I'd Like a Cup of Coffee, Please
by LoudlySilent
Summary: New Summary:SK Kagome is a college student working at a cafe. She is one of the few humans that know demons exsist. And she keeps running into this one annoying golden eyed demon . . .
1. Just a Normal Day

The sun shined through the trees making odd shadows on the ground. It was mesmerizing to the young girl in the café. She pushed her charcoal colored hair over her shoulder and sighed, it was time to get back to work. Turning her attention back to the task at hand, which was listening to her boss as he went through their daily pre-meal ritual of the dos and don'ts of his restaurant, she couldn't help but wish she was outside sitting under the tree that she had been gazing at earlier.

She loved her job, but some days it was just so monotonous. Be inhumanly nice to the customers in hopes of getting a decent tip, bring them their food and drinks, and make small talk before moving on to do the same thing with the next table.

The clanging of the bell distracted her from her thoughts as he first of the customers came through the door chattering noisily about their day. Closing her eyes and saying quick prayer for patience, she made her way over to her first table of the day. It was a group of three girls, all in school uniforms, and they were having an animated discussion which could be heard by anyone that had a desire to hear it.

She was almost to the table when the door clanged again and someone shouted "Kagome!" Startled the girl looked up and saw one of her regulars (and best friend) coming through the door.

"Sango! I'll be with you in just a minute." She finished crossing the room to the table the three girls occupied and took their drink order. She got the drinks quickly and delivered them over to the table in record time. They said they needed a few minutes to order, so she went to the table where her friend sat.

"My name is Kagome, and I will be your server. Would you like something to drink?"

"Kagome, quit being silly. You know what I want." Sango said exasperatedly.

"I know. I just like bothering you about it." She said winking at her. "I'll put the order in. Mocha milkshake and a cheese burger cooked medium well without onion, right?"

"You got it."

Kagome made her way to the computer where she rang in her orders and sent Sango's order to the kitchen, and then she went back over to the table with the 3 young highschoolers to take their order.

"Have you decided what you would like now?" she asked the first girl with the straight black hair.

"I would like the special, and to substitute fries for the rice." Kagome took the other two girls' order, rang it in, and then went to check on Sango's milkshake and burger. The milkshake was ready so she took it out to her, and explained that the burger would be a few more minutes. She knew that Sango knew this, but it was their daily routine.

The day continued on and people came and went. About 15 minutes before closing time the café was empty and everyone was hoping that no one would come in. The kitchen was clean and everything was done, the only thing stopping them from leaving was the 15 minutes left until 11:00.

Kagome stood at the counter talking with another girl who was also a waitress. Kagura had black hair that she wore in a bun, and magenta colored eyes. She claimed it was natural, but Kagome wasn't sure she believed her.

"So what do you plan to do tonight when you get off work Kagome?"

Kagome sighed and glanced at the clock. _10 more minutes_ . . . "Go home and study for my history exam. Sleep. The usual. You?"

Kagura flashed a wicked grin. "The usual."

"So you're going to a bar, to pretend to be drunk, so that you can have a man think he is taking advantage of someone that's tipsy; while you are in fact, mostly sober, and fully aware of what is taking place?"

"Well when you put it that way, it sounds like I am being conniving."

"So you're not going?"

"No, I'm going; I was just saying you make it sound worse than it is." Kagura eyed Kagome beneath her lashes, "Sure you don't want to come? It would be fun with the two of us."

Kagome glanced at the clock again. _3 more minutes _ . . . "I'm sure. I have to make an A on this exam."

Kagura snorted. "You always have to make an A, Kagome you need to relax and learn to-" Kagura was cut off by the clanging of the bell and everyone had to stifle a groan. Kagura softly said what everyone was thinking. "_Damn."_

"You get it." Said Kagura before Kagome could say anything. Kagome sighed and nodded, giving Kagura a 'you owe me' look.

She walked over to the table and introduced herself as Kagome, telling the man that she would be his server, before asking the customer if he would like a drink. The man looked up and Kagome's thought process ground to a halt. He had the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen.

"I'd like a cup of coffee, please." Said the stranger, effectively breaking Kagome from her trance.

"Would you like cream or sugar?"

"Both please."

"Anything else?" He shook his head and Kagome noticed how long his hair was. She scribbled his order down on her pad of paper and went to ring in his order. While there Kagura came over and said "He's cute isn't he? I wish I would meet someone like him at a club. Because then we could-"

"Kagura!" Kagome cut her off. "He's right over there! He might hear you!"

"Calm down Kagme. I won't offend your virgin ears." Kagura said rolling her eyes.

Kagome just gave her an exasperated look before bringing the man his coffee. "Are you sure you wouldn't like anything else?" she questioned.

The man looked irritated for some reason and said "Kagome was it?" At her nod to the affirmative he continued on "Well then Kagome, are you stupid?"

Kagome spluttered in outrage "What did you just say to me?"

The man sighed. "And it seems as though you are deaf as well. I asked if you were stupid. We had previously established that I did not want anything other than my coffee. Must you annoy me with your unnecessary chatter?"

"Well excuse me for wanting to see if you had changed your mind! Are you always this rude to people who are trying to be nice, or am I just the girl who won the prize of your temper today?"

The man ground his teeth together for a minute before saying as calmly as he could "Do you know who I am?"

"No, and I don't care who you are. I refuse to be called stupid for doing my job and if you have a problem with it, you can leave."

The man eyed her for a moment before saying, "Very well. You were doing your job. Please excuse my temper. I just got off work and I have a even longer day ahead of me tomorrow. I should not have taken my frustration out on you."

"Thank you for the apology."

"Hn." Was all he said and Kagome left him to himself. Sesshoumaru eyed the waitress as she walked away. He really hadn't meant to be insulting, but he was tired and she had asked, in his opinion, a stupid question. He didn't deal with stupid people very well. She was cute though, shame he had to upset her. Oh well, women were stupid by birthright and he didn't want to have one hanging around him anyway.

He took a sip of his coffee and pondered a bit more. Once he had drained his cup, he put some money on the table, scribbled something on his check, and left.

Kagome went to collect her tip from the table and clean it off so that they could all go home.

Once everything was locked up, she told everyone good bye, wished Kagura luck, and started walking to her apartment. She shoved her hands into her pockets and found a wadded up piece of paper among her tips.

Pulling it out of her pocket, she straightened it out and was surprised to see that the man that had been so rude had left her a note. All it said was sorry, but it still made her feel better.

As she was getting into bed that night, she decided that if she ever saw him again she would give as good as she got if he was still as rude as before. Before she fell asleep she couldn't help but think that it was a shame. He had that long beautiful hair and those golden eyes . . .


	2. Demon or Not?

Authors Note: I'm back! I'm a little bruised and swollen from surgery, but all in all, I'm in good shape. Please read and review, but most importantly, enjoy!

Kagome was awoken the next day by the blaring of her alarm clock. She reached for the alarm clock on her beside table blindly, fumbling around a little before finally finding the button that would grant her the silence she desired. She let her arm flop back over her face so that her elbow blocked out the sun light streaming in through her cream colored curtains. She really didn't want to go to class today, but she had studied all night for that history exam . . . . . it would have been a waste if she skipped the class. Sometimes she hated being responsible. It could take all the fun out of life.

With a sigh she swung her legs over the right side of the bed and rolled her head from side to side to work out the kinks it had accumulated over the night. The bed in her apartment just wasn't the same as the one she slept in at her family's shrine in downtown Tokyo, but it was closer to the university that she attended.

She padded out of her bedroom and into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. She rummaged through the cupboards, and discovered that she needed to go shopping for groceries. She sighed; _like I don't have enough to do_ she thought to herself, _I'll have to go after I get off work tonight._

That settled, she decided that she would fix a bowl of cereal, which was faster than actually cooking, so that she would have a few extra minutes of study time before her history exam.

She drained the rest of the milk from her cereal bowl and took it over to the sink. She went into her bedroom to collect her school books and noticed that her psychology book was missing. She went back into the living room to see if she had left it in there the night before after reading the assigned chapter.

She saw it sitting on the table she had bought at a thrift store five months previous. It was cherry wood and had carvings winding around the legs that looked like ivy. She picked it up and put it in her bag with the rest of her books, glanced around one last time to make sure she hadn't forgot anything, and headed out the door to the staircase. She lived on the third floor and took the opportunity to do a little easy exercise.

She chose to walk to class instead of riding her bike, and the closer she got to campus the more crowded it became and the more she had to dodge people to avoid running into anyone. She didn't have to look around to get her bearings; she knew exactly how to get where she was going.

She made it to her classroom with 20 minutes to spare and sat down to do some last minute studying. She had to take a Western Civilization History class to meet one of her general requirements, and it was the only class that she was really worried about because of the amount of essays and exams were being given. It was difficult at times to keep up at school and keep a steady job.

Kagome sighed as the professor passed out the exam; she really needed an A on this test. She glanced over the test once the professor passed the exams out to her row, said a quick prayer, and began. Question 1: What event of great significance . . . .

After the test was through Kagome packed up her bag and headed toward her next class. She had Algebra next and she wished that she didn't have to take the class. It was _so _boring!

When her classes where over for the day Kagome headed over to the nearest bathroom to change into her work uniform. She had 45 minutes to leave campus and walk half way across town. If she left now, she would have enough time to grab a cup of coffee before she had to clock in.

She pulled her coat closer to her body while she was walking and let her mind drift. She wasn't surprised when a face popped into her head. But she was surprised by whose face it was. She didn't even know his name. All she knew was that he was a jerk whenever he had a bad day. Although to his credit, he did apologize, well sort of. And he was really cute. That long silvery hair with those golden eyes was quite a combination. But good looks generally came with being a demon.

Not that she had seen hundreds of demons or anything, but she knew quite a few, and none of them were really ugly. Plus, here best friend Sango came from a long line of demon exterminators, and she said the stronger demons were able to take humanoid forms, which were usually quite nice looking. Plus they got to have exotic eye and hair colors. Speaking of that, demons sucked. They did absolutely nothing and they looked wonderful. They didn't even have the misfortune of having a bad hair day! With that last thought and one more gust of wind to ensure that Kagome would indeed not have a good hair day, she entered the café.

"Hey Kagome!" said Kaede the cook with a wave. Kaede was a shrine maiden when she was younger and had impressive spiritual powers; now she was an elderly woman working in a kitchen to make a living. There wasn't an outcry of need or spiritual powers now that demons had faded into legend to the general public. Kaede was also the one who told Kagome about her miko abilities when she started at the café 4 years ago. She had asked Kagome if she knew of her family heritage, and if there were any miko's in her family line.

Kagome had told her about growing up at the Higurashi shrine. Kaede had looked a little surprised, and then she her face had morphed from surprise into a knowing look. Since then, Kaede had been instructing Kagome on how to hone her miko powers whenever the two had free time. She had also taught her how to sense demons. Since then, Kagome had realized just how many demons inhabited the city, and how man where actually in hiding around her.

Kaede had told her that some demons were very good at hiding their jaki. She had told Kagome a hint that would help her decipher between normal humans and demons that were highly skilled at hiding their jaki: the prettier and more oddly colored in the hair and eyes, the more likely they were to be a demon.

That was one of the reasons she wasn't sure about Kagura. She had occasionally thought she felt some jaki when near Kagura, but there were also other demons in the vicinity at the time. While Kagura was extremely beautiful, it didn't look unnatural or inhuman, and her hair was a normal color. There was also the fact of Kagura's oddly colored eyes, but it was something that could be done with contacts; so Kagome didn't really know what to think.

Kagome didn't sense any jaki from the man that had come into the café last night, but his coloring was so unusual, she was sure that he couldn't be human. Plus, he was to bloody beautiful to be human, that or God had made a mistake when handing out the good looking genes and given him the ones reserved for other people.

Walking into the back and taking her jacket off as she walked Kagome let the idea of God passing out genes ferment in her brain. _Hmmm_, she mused_, while very unlikely, if God actually passed out good looking genes and made a mistake by giving that guy some extra ones, thereby not giving some one else any good looking genes, it would actually explain that kid that comes in here with that creepy grin on his face all the time._

She shuddered in remembrance of said creepy kid and hung her jacket on the hook on the wall. Tying her apron around her waist, she dismissed the idea of genes being handed out by a higher power and concluded that he probably was just a powerful demon, extremely adept at hiding his jaki.

_Not that the thought makes me feel any better_. After all, if he was powerful enough to hide his jaki and his demon attributes, he was probably powerful enough to sense her miko powers. Not a very comforting thought, since Kaede had told her that most demons weren't that fond of mikos.

Kagome pasted a smile on her face despite her misgivings, and went over to her first table of the night. "Hello. My name is Kagome, and I will be your server this evening. Can I get you anything to drink?"

After they were done cleaning and locking up for the night Kagome decided to voice her concerns concerning the fellow she was sure was a demon while she was walking Kaede home. "Kaede," she said softly.

"Yes child?" questioned the elderly cook.

"If a demon knew I was a miko, would I be in danger?"

Kaede looked at the girl she looked at as one might a granddaughter through the one good eye she had left. The other had been damaged when she was a child and she had chosen to wear an eye patch to hide the scars. "In the feudal ages it would be a cause for concern if you were a miko and not able to defend yourself against demons, for they hated them with a passion. But in this age it does not matter. The miko line is almost gone and most of those blessed with spiritual powers do not know of it, because of this, if a demon were to sense your powers, it would not feel threatened, merely assume you were like the other untrained mikos that do not even know of demons. And even if they wanted to kill you because you were a miko, I doubt they would."

Kagome released the breath she had been holding and watched her breath condense in front of her before asking "How are you so sure?"

Kaede considered her for a moment, and then said "They wouldn't wish to deal with the hassle of a possible police investigation that might reveal their well hidden secret."

Kagome shivered a bit and rubbed her hands together while she digested the new information. They walked the rest of the way in silence until they reached Kaede's apartment building. "Thank you for walking this old lady home, Kagome dear."

"Think nothing of it. You know I wouldn't want you walking home alone in the dark in this city." Replied Kagome, grabbing Kaede's hand and squeezing it gently.

"You be careful on your way home. I'm not comfortable with you walking alone either. You need a man to walk you from the café." Kaede said firmly.

Kagome's face went up in flames. "Kaede!"

"It's true." Said the older woman. "I would feel better knowing someone was keeping you safe."

"Well, do me a favor and keep yourself safe." Kagome leaned forward and gave Kaede a hug, watching to make sure she was safely in the building before turning and heading towards her apartment.

Authors note: Next chapter Kagome and Sesshoumaru meet again! But will it be on better terms? I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reading!


	3. The Shinto Religion

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or anything Inuyasha related that I didn't buy at a store.**

Authors Note: And here is the next intallment! It has plenty of Sesshoumaru in it so don't worry. Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews, and I hope that everyone will read and review, but most importantly, enjoy!

Sesshoumaru couldn't believe what was happening. The foolish little mortal man in front of him was telling him what to do. He, the son of the Great Dog Demon of the West, was being told what to do by an impudent little man. He obviously didn't know with whom he was dealing.

Sesshoumaru sighed. He wished he could do the man, his professor, the service of removing his head from his shoulders and he really wished there wouldn't be so much red tape to slog through. It really was the only thing stopping him. That and he would have to retake the class if the teacher suddenly died and then he would have wasted the past few weeks. Ahh, the inconvenience of it all.

Sesshoumaru had begun contemplating his professor's eminent demise when he had asked Sesshoumaru to stay after the class to talk to him. This in itself was not the real cause of his ire, however.

The professor, Mr. Toishi, had then proceeded to tell Sesshoumaru that he needed to visit some shrine and do an interview for his paper about the Shinto religion. Apparently, an interview was required and Sesshoumaru had not put one in his paper.

This was not because he had forgotten of course. It was because Sesshoumaru knew all about the Shinto religion, having been alive in an era where there was a miko in most villages and he had assumed he would have enough information. However, it seemed that it was a requirement of the essay.

Sesshoumaru cut Mr. Toishi off when it appeared that he was going to keep rambling on uselessly. "Thank you Professor. The paper will be on your desk before the next time class meets."

Mr. Toishi watched him walk away and let out a relieved sigh the tension leaving his body. _That boy is so intense. I wonder if he ever smiles._

Kagome rolled her head around on her shoulders until she felt the joints pop to release the pressure. She did this on two occasions. One was when she first woke up in the morning. The second was when she was being highly annoyed by someone she considered to be stupid or when she was just plain irritated. The latter was the reason for the head movement at the moment, though Kagome wished she could rewind the clock back to when she hadfirst awoken. Maybe then the day would go a little differently.

She had been at her family's shrine visiting with her family, when her grandfather had asked her to help out with the gift shop. She had reluctantly agreed and changed into the priestess garb she had in the closet of her bedroom at the shrine.

And now she was in her current annoying situation. A tourist had heard somewhere that the Higurashi Shrine was the one that had guarded the renowned Shikon no Tama, and wanted to hear the legend. Having grown up with her grandfather, whom Kagome suspected might be a tad senile; she knew all about the legend due to her grandfather's repeated telling of every legend known to man.

The fact that the tourists had asked about the legend wasn't what she found annoying however, it was the fact that they kept asking the same questions. She could handle it if they had repeated a couple of questions, but these people had repeated almost every question they asked. Within 3 minutes of the first time they asked!

She was relieved when she heard her mother calling her from the house. "I'll be right there!" she hollered back. "If you'll excuse me, someone will be right over to answer the rest of your questions." Glad to have an excuse to get away, Kagome used it to her advantage and hurried away as fast as she could without appearing rude.

She slid open the door and slipped out of her sandals leaving her feet clad only in tabi socks,before heading toward where she'd heard her mother's voice. "Momma?" she called. "Did you need something?"

Her mother came out of the kitchen holding a tray with tea on it. "Yes dear. Someone is here to do an interview about the Shinto religion." She shook her head to move her dark bangs out of her eyes and balanced the tray in one hand while she shoved her short hair behind an ear with the other.

Kagome moved over to the slightly worn out couch in the corner and sat down gracelessly with a slight thump. "So why do you need me?"

Her mother moved over to sit beside her daughter placing the tea tray on the coffee table. "Because you know all about the Shinto religion. I told him he could interview my daughter for his school paper."

"Then why not have him talk to Grandpa? He knows more about it than I do"

"Because you know enough."

"Momma." Kagome said with a suspicious look. "Why do you want him to interview me so badly?"

Mrs. Higurashi's smile brightened and she said in the sweetest voice she could muster, "I thought that he would be more comfortable interviewing you. He looks to be about your age and he goes to your school."

"Momma!"

"Yes dear?" said the elder Higurashi.

"Your trying to set me up aren't you?" accused the younger girl her nose scrunching up due to her displeasure.

Her tone light and airy, Mrs. Higurashi replied, "What would give you that idea, dear?"

"Maybe the fact that you want him to talk to me instead of Grandpa, who by the way knows more about the Shinto religion than I do, and you know it."

"I don't know what you're talking about dear."

Sesshoumaru looked up at the tall flight of steps before him. This was the place. He glanced around him to see if anyone was watching; andseeing that the coast was clear, he leaped to the top of the stairs. He looked around once more to assure no one had been watching and then continued on to the door.

After knocking he was greeted at the door by who he assumed was the lady of the house. She looked to be in her late thirties and had short, dark raven colored hair. She came up short compared to his 6'2 height looking to be about 5'4. She was slim and had kind brown eyes. "Hello. Can I help you?"

"Yes, my name is Sesshoumaru Motosuwa and I was wondering if I could interview someone for a paper I'm doing about the Shinto religion for my History class at the local University. The priest or priestess of this shrine perhaps?"

Mrs. Higurashi eyed the tall young man in front of her. He had long, silver hair and a striking pair of golden eyes. She wondered if it was natural or if he was wearing contacts. "Of course. Come right on in and I will make some tea." She moved aside and let him come in before closing the door behind him. She ushered him over to the kitchen table and motionedfor him to sit down in a chair.

"My daughter knows all about the Shinto religion. Her grandfather made her sit and listen to him while he taught her all about it when she was younger. She will be able to tell you everything you need to know for your paper. She's out at the gift shop right now." This was all said while she bustled around the kitchen preparing tea.

Sesshoumaru winced unnoticeably when she yelled for her daughter. Hmmm where had he heard that name before? It sounded so familiar . . .

He heard "I'll be right there!" and he couldn't help but think that he recognized that voice too. The woman that had greeted him at the door went into the adjacent room after he heard the doorto another roomopen, carrying the tray of tea with her. He could hear their voices from in the other room and he was again struck by the voice of the woman's daughter. He had heard it somewhere before, but where?

"Yes you do Momma. You're trying to set me up. With someone you just met! What if he was a serial killer or something?"

"I doubt that dear. Someone as pretty looking as him couldn't be a killer."

"You know," Kagome said dryly, "the Americans said something similar about that serial killer Ted Bundy. Something about how he appeared too normal looking."

"Well then dear, you are safe."

"What makes you say that?"

"Sesshoumaru's just too pretty."

"Mom his name means killing perfection."

"And he's too polite. And that long hair of his, with those golden eyes! He's not a killer Kagome."

_Golden eyes?_ There was only one person Kagome had ever seen with golden eyes and that was that jerk from the café! It couldn't be him though, could it? What were the chances of that happening?

"You sit here and I will go and get him Kagome. And be nice." She said sternly.

Sesshoumaru waited patiently while trying to place the name and voice in his memory. He rolled his eyes at their conversation. _Human women._ The woman came back and told him to come on into the living room.

When he walked in he saw a girl with dark raven colored hair that went down to her waist sitting facing the other way. Her shoulders moved up and down and she rolled her head around. He could hear her joints popping. She turned to face him and he instantly recognized her.

"You! You're that jerk from the café!" He could see her anger shining like fire in her blue eyes. So it would seem she recognized him as well.

Authors Note: Next chapter the fight, I mean the story continues with plenty of Sesshoumaru and Kagome interaction!


	4. Do You Know Who I Am?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. The only things I own are the things that have been bought in a store.**

Authors Note: This is the next chapter (obviously) and I hope everyone likes it. If anyone notices a mistake, please tell me in a review, I didn't have time to work on the story this week due to mentally unstable teachers who love to assign outrageous assignments and a girl got suspended at work so I had to pick up three of her shifts. I already had 5. So, the point is I typed the majority of this today, and I might have missed stuff when I proof read it. As always, Read Review and more importantly, enjoy!

And thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter! It helped me to actually type this up now instead of doing the homework that I should be doing! Er that I will be getting back to . . .in a few minutes . . .I hope. Enjoy!

Kagome couldn't believe it. Of all the people in the world, it had to be the guy from the café! She knew she was overreacting, but she didn't really care. Her mother was trying to set her up with this guy! And he had been unnecessarily rude to her. She blithely ignored the fact that he had apologized. Twice.

Her blue eyes narrowed and she glared at him in hopes of making him melt into a puddle of some unidentifiable liquid. It didn't work; he only raised a silver eyebrow at her, so she settled for saying, "You! You're that jerk from the café!"

Mrs. Higurashi glanced from her daughter to the young man standing a few feet away and back again. "I take it that you know each other, then."

"You could say that." Sesshoumaru said.

"Hmph. He was rude to me and all I did was ask him if he wanted anything." She said trying to win the seemingly neutral woman to her side of the argument.

"I assure you, it is not as bad as she implies. I apologized. Twice, in fact." Said Sesshoumaru with a regal toss of his head.

Kagome sputtered for a moment unsure of what to say. Not that it mattered; her mother had plenty to say. "Kagome Higurashi, I'm surprised at you! Treating a guest this way! The shame! And carrying on like that, when he apologized to you! I want you to apologize to him. Furthermore, I want you to do the interview with him. And be nice, or you'll be grounded."

Kagome pouted at her mother. "But mom-"

"No buts."

"Alright." She said discreetly rolling her eyes.

"Good. I will be in the gift shop if you need me. Oh and Sesshoumaru," she said pausing on her way out the door, "Help yourself to some tea."

Kagome eyed Sesshoumaru with barely disguised distaste. "So what questions do you have?"

"I have no questions." He replied.

Kagome's eyebrows furrowed. "I thought that was why you were here. To do an interview for your paper."

"It is. But I already know about the Shinto religion. The only reason I came here is because my professor told me I had to come and conduct an interview about the Shinto religion. An interview is required for the paper."

"So you're basically just using what you already know, and citing my name or my family's name?"

"Precisely. Once again, you seem to have proved that you aren't completely stupid." Although Sesshoumaru's facial expression of indifference never wavered, he was enjoying himself. The girl was just fun to insult. It was all about the reaction. If she had just accepted what he said or burst into tears, he would not continue goading her, it would not be fun. But she fought back, and although he demanded respect, he enjoyed her defiance.

Kagome's eyes narrowed in the face of her anger and she felt her face get red due to the increase in her body's temperature. She could almost feel the steam pouring from her ears. "I was beginning to feel bad about the way I was treating you, but now I see that I was justified in my actions. You are a jerk. You may have apologized, but if you had been serious in your apology, you wouldn't be insulting me now."

Sesshoumaru looked at her consideringly. "Perhaps I merely enjoy the way you look when angry." He said this to get a reaction, and he was not disappointed. Her face drained of all color until she looked like one that was undead, and then just as quickly, turned even redder than it was when she was angry.

"Stop that! Don't say things like that!"

"Or perhaps you are too sensitive and take offence to small things."

Kagome took a deep and what she hoped was a cleansing breath. In what Sesshoumaru considered a rare show of intelligence (for a human) she refrained from letting her temper get the better of her and instead thought about her answer before replying.

"You're trying to bait me aren't you?"

"Perhaps." He said in the same sickeningly unchanging voice Kagome had ever had the displeasure of hearing.

Kagome rolled her head around on her shoulders before saying, "I don't know why you insist on calling me stupid."

Sesshoumaru raised one snow white eyebrow and Kagome took that to mean that he wanted her to explain.

"After all, I'm not the one that has a restricted vocabulary due to an apparent mental deficiency." Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed and that was all the encouragement that Kagome needed to keep going. "I mean, your to favorite words are stupid and perhaps. Both of which my baby brother knows. And you're probably about 9 or 10 years older than him too."

Sesshoumaru couldn't believe that he was letting this little human girl talk to him this way. If only it was still the time in which demons reigned supreme, then the girl would bow and tremble before him, as was her place.

But it was not the age of demons. It was the age of technology and humans were ignorant to the exsistance of demons and had forgotten the magics of long ago. He could sense the miko powers the girl sitting in front of him housed within her tiny frame and he was sure she was as woefully unaware of the gift she held inside as every other miko he had happened across in the past 200 years.

"Girl, hold your tongue. You know not with whom you speak. It would serve you well to keep silent." Ahh, it seemed she was going to listen and remain silent. Maybe she was smarter than most humans.

"You keep saying stuff like that. What are you talking about?"

Then again, maybe she was like the rest of her race and didn't know when she was in the presence of a greater being.

"If you do not know, then I will not lower myself to tell you."

"You keep asking if I know who you are. Should I know? I mean, what are you the dean's son, or something, and you think I should suck up to you to get a better grade? Because if you think for one minute that I will do that, you are lacking some major brain cells. I don't need anyone else to get a good grade."

When it didn't seem as if she was going to stop anytime soon, Sesshoumaru thought it pertinent to stop her. She obviously had a greater lung capacity then Sesshoumaru had thought. So when she paused for breath in the middle of her rant, Sesshoumaru cut her off.

"I am of no relation to the dean."

"Then why would I know who you are? Are you related to someone famous or something?"

"No."

When he didn't elaborate Kagome asked, "So are you going to tell me why I should know you?"

Almost repeating his words from earlier he said, "If you do not know, then I will not lower myself to explain."

Kagome racked her brain and tried to come up with a reason why he would ask what he had when they had first met. He had said "Do you know who I am?" and he had looked as if he thought she should know. No not that she should recognize him, but as if she should realize something. . . .

Suddenly she understood. He was a demon after all. And from the looks of him, he was a powerful one. She didn't sense any demonic energy emanating from him, so he had to be powerful enough to disguise it. And if he was powerful enough to do that, he could probably sense her miko powers.

Giving him a deadpan look, Kagome asked, "Are you talking about the fact that you are a demon?"

Sesshoumaru was shocked that the girl had figured it out. From the way she was acting, he had thought she was unaware of demons. Those who did know of demons usually showed the proper amount of respect or a healthy dose of fear when around a demon. This girl did neither.

When he had first entered the café, he had felt the presence of a miko and had thought to see if she was knowledgeable about demons. But she had not seemed aware of his heritage by his appearance, and he had not been broadcasting his jaki, so he while he did not have concrete evidence, he had assumed that she didn't know.

"You knew that I was a demon?"

Kagome looked at him like he was stupid. "Yes." She said slowly, as if to ensure that he understood.

"Then why did you not say so?" Why was she not afraid?

"You said who you were not _what_ you were. Plus, you could have just been some oddball with dyed hair and contacts. I didn't sense any jaki from you, so I figured you must have been some political figures spoiled brat, used to getting your way and people bowing low before you."

"Hn."

"So are you always this pompous or am I just special?"

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes, a sure sign that he was not happy, and said, "Girl, it would be in your best interest to show me proper respect."

"I only give respect to those that give respect to me, or at least common courtesy."

After Sesshoumaru arrived back at his dorm room (he didn't have a roommate) he couldn't help but think about the girl that knew of demons and didn't fear them. The only conclusion he could come to was that while she knew of demons, she didn't know what they were capable of. She was a curious girl. Very curious indeed.


	5. Sakura Trees

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters.I do own many Inuyasha dvds, a Sesshoumaru poster (its cloth and rolls up-my B/F bought it for me), Inuyasha cds (one of which also boughr by my B/F), an Inuyasha T shirt, and a Sesshoumaru key chain (also bought by my B/F to which if he is reading, I would like to say THANKYOU).**

Authors Note: Sorry for the delay in posting another chapter. I went out of town last weekend and I got sick so I haven't been able to really work on the chapter. But it is a little longer than the other chapters, and I introduce Miroku! Shippo should be coming in the next chapter, and if not, he will be in the one after that! Any way, Read, Review, and Enjoy!

Sesshoumaru cracked open one golden eye and quickly closed it when the bright light of the sun reached it. He waited a few moments, and then blinked both eyes open gradually letting them adjust o the light. He was a light sleeper, and as soon as the sun rose high enough to start coming through the windows, he would always wake up.

He snorted. Back when the air wasn't polluted, he would stay awake for weeks on end, and when he did sleep, he awoke right at dawn. Now, he felt as though he had become humanized. He went to bed every night and woke up when the sun came up. Just like any human.

And just like any human that looked his age, he had a class to attend in an hour. Sighing deeply he got out of bed and began to get ready.

XXXXXXX

Kagome groaned and rolled over, pulling the navy blue coverlet with her to block out the light coming through the window. She really didn't want to get up. She had to give a speech today in her first class, and she wasn't looking forward to it. Granted, even if she wasn't giving a speech, she still wouldn't want to get up. But that was a technicality. The point was that she really didn't want to get up today.

Kagome chose to ignore the fact that she never wanted to get up, regardless of what was happening that day. If she could, she would sleep the day away.

But it was not to be. Her alarm decided that she should indeed wake up. And it continued to insist that she do so, until she rolled back over and turned it off. Since she had already exerted the energy to do that, Kagome decided that she might as well go ahead and get up.

Kagome grabbed the robe that was hanging on her closet's door knob, and wrapped herself up in it to ward off the morning chill. It was fall now, and the mornings were getting cooler. She padded into the kitchen and went straight for the cabinet with the oatmeal in it.

She had gone grocery shopping the day before when she had gotten off work to stock up her depleted supplies. She contemplated what had happened the day before while she set the microwave to the appropriate time.

Sesshoumaru had looked so shocked when she had told him that she only gave respect to those she thought deserved it. The look on his face was priceless! True, his facial expression hadn't really changed that much, but she had seen the shock that had passed over his face. Even if it had only been for a second.

He was so sure of himself. 'I don't need an interview. I already know everything I need to kow' she imitated to herself. Well, it didn't matter now, she hadn't told him anything about the Shinto religion, so he had better know all about it. The nerve of him, coming over and telling her he just needed her name for his citation!

Kagome smiled around her mouthful oatmeal, even if he was a jerk, he sure was cute to look at!

XXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes and tried to remember that even though he was a good few hundred years older than the idiots around him, they did not know that, and therefore, did not know that he was taking extreme offence to the fact that they were treating him like a child because he was an underclassmen.

He once again wished that he could lop off some heads. Ahh the restraint he showed in difference to his father's wish. They were beneath his notice anyway. With that thought in mind, he held up a hand to stem the flow of babbling streaming out of their mouths, and then walked off in a different direction.

He kept walking until he could see the picnic benches under the sakura trees in front of Motoishin Hall. Sanctuary in sight, he walked faster. As he was rounding the corner, he collided into a petite form, sending them both crashing to the ground.

XXXXXXX

Kagome shuddered and tried not to think of the speech she had just given. No matter how many times she gave a speech, she could not get rid of her nervousness. She had an hour until her next class, so she decided to go to the sakura trees to relax. As she was passing the corner of a building, she ran into something and fell backwards, whatever she had run into falling with her. Kagome sat there dazed for a few minutes. It felt like she had run into a brick wall! So caught up in her thoughts, she didn't notice that there was someone lying on top of her.

XXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru blinked a couple of times to get his eyes back into focus. It took him a minute to realize that there was a warm body beneath his. When he did he looked down and groaned mentally once he saw who he was. He couldn't help but smirk though when he heard her mumble "Did someone get the number on that mack truck?"

Sesshoumaru stood up and held out his hand to help the girl still lying on the ground to get up. It took a minute for her eyes to focus on his hand and when she did, she grabbed it and started apologizing for running into him.

Until she saw who it was that is. She stopped abruptly in the middle of her sentence once she got a good look at the person she had collided with. "Oh. It's you."

Sesshoumaru's left eyebrow rose until it was no longer visible, having disappeared under the curtain of his bangs. "Indeed."

The girl in front of him sighed and said in a defeated tone, "Since it seems I am doomed to forever run into you, I might as well make the best of it." She took a deep breath and then said, "I think we got off on the wrong foot. What do you say, do you want to start over?" she asked.

Sesshoumaru stared at her for a minute before subtley rolling his eyes. "I suppose that it would do no harm."

He watched the girl not so subtely roll her eyes. She recovered quickly though, and held out her hand saying, "Hi. My name is Higurashi Kagome. What is yours?"

"I suppose you wish this Sesshoumaru to pretend he has never met you as well." When all she did was look at him with a half annoyed half 'duh' look, he got the message. Sesshoumaru eyed her hand for a moment, and then he accepted his fate and took her small hand in his large one, bringing them up and down once before letting go. "Very well. My name is Motosuwa Sesshoumaru." Kagome just looked at him. "Nice to meet you." He added when it didn't seem was going to stop looking at him until she got what she wanted.

(pov change)

"It's nice to meet you as well, Sesshoumaru." She said bowing slightly. "Where were you headed?"

He inclined his head towards were the picnic tables were situated underneath the sakura trees.

"Really? Me too. Do you mind if I join you? I like to go there and relax, read a book, that kind of thing."

Sesshoumaru didn't say anything, just turned and began to walk toward the sakura trees. Since he didn't say anything to the negative, Kagome followed him nervously smoothing out imaginary wrinkles in her courdaroys, studiously ignoring the fact that he hadn't said anything to the affirmative either. The way she saw it, if he really didn't want her there, he would say something. So she followed him.

XXXXXXXXX

"It was amazing Sango!" Kagome gushed to her best friend as she pulled the covers higher to rest at her waist. "We talked for a half hour. Without trying to verbally kill the other one!" She ran the hand not occupied with the phone through her hair before letting it rest on the bed beside her.

"Good! I am glad for you Kagome. And I am happy for me, because this means I don't have to listen to you ramble about how much of a jerk he is. The past few days I thought my ears were going to fall off!"

Kagome rolled her eyes even though she knew that her friend couldn't see the action. "It wasn't as bad as all that. You're exaggerating."

"I don't think I am. All you were saying was 'that guy is such a jerk!' and 'you wouldn't believe what he said to me!' I think that proves my point quite nicely."

"Fine," Kagome conceded. "I wouldn't shut up about him. You win, alright?"

"As it will always be." Her friend replied. "Now," Sango said her voice taking on a girlish pitch that would suit a 14-year-old, "Tell me what he looks like."

"Well, he has the most amazing golden eyes I have ever seen . . . ."

XXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru was enjoying his dinner when the phone rang and interrupted his peace. "Moshi moshi." He said to the caller.

"Hey Sesshoumaru!" said the voice on the other line.

"What do you want Miroku?" Sesshoumaru growled. He hated to have his dinner interrupted.

"I was just calling to see how you were." Miroku hurridley said in a conciliatory tone.

"That is all?" Sesshoumaru asked in a skeptical voice.

Miroku laughed weakly. "Well that, and I wanted to ask about that girl you met the other day."

"Houshi." Sesshoumaru warned.

"Calm down Sesshoumaru. I don't even know her. I just wanted to her about her, you said she was 'passable in looks' which means that she has to be hot!"

"Houshi . ." Sesshoumaru's voice came out in nearly a growl."

"What? All I'm saying is-"

"Houshi, you will desist your rambling. I have no desire to listen to you prattle about an annoying girl that you have not even met."

Sesshoumaru could hear Miroku's exhale through the phone. "Alright. So what happened today after class?"

"If I tell you, will you cease talking and leave me to my dinner?"

"Of course."

"We ran into each other. We went to the sakura trees and sat down. Then we spoke."

"And what else happened?"

"That is all."

"Oh come on! You have to let me know more details than that!"

"No."

"Please?" Miroku begged trying to annoy it out of the stoic demon.

"No."

"Is there anything I can do to change your mind?"

"No."

"What if I set you up on a date with this really-"

"No."

"But Sessh-"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"It figures that you wouldn't fall for that."

"I am not as dumb as you."

"Hey! Just because I show my appreciation for the opposite sex, it doesn't mean that I am stupid."

"Hn. Your 'appreciation' of the opposite sex gets you smacked. Frequently."

"But it is worth it."

"I will leave you to your fantasy world so that I may continue eating."

"Alright. Sayanora Sesshoumaru."

Sesshoumaru went back to eating and wondered once again why exactly he put up with the lecherous man that he had just spoken to.

XXXXXXXX

". . .and that is about it." Kagome finished.

"Wow, Kagome, he sounds like a Greek God."

"Well his looks certaintly earn him a spot, but his, uh, how best to put this . . . his manners suck. No that's not right, his manners are fine, it's the fact that he thinks he's better than everyone else that needs work."

"Well, you know the Greek Gods weren't perfect either."

"Really?"

"Yeah, they suffered from the same vices as the humans, greed, gluttony, lust. They weren't perfect. Just fun to look at."

"This is true." Kagome agreed. After all Sesshoumaru wasn't perfect, but he sure was fun to look at!

Authors Note: This seemed a good place to end, other wise, the chapter probably wouldn't have gotten posted until Monday, and I figured that you had waited long enough. Hope everyone enjoyed it. Tell me what you think!


	6. Library

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or anything that even looks like it gives me the rights to the show or manga. I do own all of the wonderful things I or someone else (mainly my boy friend) has bought me in the store.**

Authors Note: Sorry that this wasn't up yesterday. I had to work and I've had a lot of homework this week. But I stayed up till 1 in the moring typing this for everyone, so I hope that you enjoy it. It has lots of Kagome and Sesshoumaru in it! Read, Review, and Enjoy! Oh and I plan to put Shippo in the next chapter, but woud you prefer he be a child or someone more Kagome's age? Please let me know, because it will affect the story. Thanks!

Kagome lifted her hands and linked them above her head, turning her palms toward the sky, and then straightened her arms until her elbows were locked straight. Arching her back, she let her hands fall to the side as she felt the joints in her shoulders and back twist until they gave a slight pop and released the pressure. She just couldn't help popping her back after sitting still so long. Her mother always nagged at her about how it wasn't good for her to pop it and that if it was really bothering her, she should go and see a chiropractor. But really, who wanted to pay for a chiropractor when they could do it themselves?

_But that's beside the point,_ she reminded herself. _I need to focus on this and not on popping my back and the possible bad effects it could have in the future._

Satisfied that she had given herself a stern mental talking to, she immersed herself in the research materials spread before her on the table. She hated to be wasting a Saturday on such a thing as _studying,_ it was all she ever did, but it had to be done. She was an honor student after all, and while she could think of many other things she would rather be doing, this is what she needed to be doing.

Kagome tried to console herself with the fact that she was being responsible. This was the only time that she could work on this project. She had to be at work at 4:00 and she would be closing the shift. That meant she would be there a couple of extra hours cleaning up after all of the slobs who had come during the day. So, now was the only time she could work on the project and still go to sleep at a relatively decent hour.

With a weary sigh she let her head bang against the table a few times. Sango was at the amusement park right now. Probably eating junk food and having a generally splendid time making herself regurgitate all of the aforementioned food by riding too many fast paced, topsy turvy roller coasters.

Man she hated being responsible!

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru eyed the building in front of him with extreme distaste. There would be people in there and he hated dealing with other people. Grant the fact that it was a Saturday, and most people would be out doing other things, but there would still be some people there, or it would not be open to the general populace for lack of employees.

Damn his luck! His printer and simultaneously decided to run out of ink and mysteriously stop working. Before it had finished printing his essay! At first he tried replacing the ink cartridge, but the stupid thing still didn't work, so he was being forced to go to the University Library to print the revised (and cited) version of his Shinto Religion essay.

Resigning himself to the fate of being in contact with other people, he entered the building.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome shook her head in hopes of dispelling some of the fog that had entered her brain. The words were starting to swirl together and if she wasn't mistaken, she had just read the same sentence five times. History research could be so very boring. She closed her eyes to reorient herself. But it felt so nice, she couldn't help but give herself a few minutes to rest. After all, a few minutes wouldn't hurt . . .

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru booted up the nearest working computer that was connected to a printer he could find upon entering the library. Fortunately for those in dire need of a computer, the nearest working computer happened to be on the first floor. Unfortunately, the nearest working computer that was connected to a printer happened to be on the 4th floor. And it was one of three. And there happened to be more than 3 people that needed a computer. Apparently, the library was having some technical difficulties which, as the lady at the font desk had assured him, were being taken care of even as they spoke.

He had almost called Miroku to see if he could stop by and use his printer, but the thought of the annoying questions the lecher would have asked about that annoying Kagome girl demolished the thought before it had really even had a chance to be considered. So Sesshoumaru had waited an hour for a computer.

Once the computer was up and running, Sesshoumaru inserted his thumb drive into the computer. Opening Microsoft Word, he went to the file section and clicked open. Selecting the desired document, he went back to file and clicked on the print icon. A new window popped up asking how many copies he wanted and which printer he wished to send his document to. He clicked all of the appropriate items and stood to go and collect his paper.

As he was leaving (paper tucked away in the safety of a folder in his bag) he heard an odd noise. Looking around, he saw that the sound was originating from a lump of ebony colored hair at a near by table. He was going to ignore the girl, but just as he was passing by, the lump shifted and he saw a glimpse of the girl's face and went closer to investigate.

Upon closer inspection he discovered that it was the annoying girl. She had fallen asleep amidst a pile of open history books.

He couldn't help but wonder what he had done in a past life to warrant having to run into the girl wherever he went. He considered the idea of karma sending the girl to irritate him to because he had killed so many people without mercy when he was younger.

But just as soon as the thought occurred he dismissed it. No one deserved to have someone this annoying around. She just wasn't smart enough to fear him or even to give him the respect he deserved for being of the superior race.

He toyed with the idea of just letting her sit there and embarrass herself further with her snoring, but decided against it. She was much too fun to annoy. After all, if he was going to be cursed with someone who wouldn't fear him, he might as well take advantage of it right?

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome was in the blissful world of sleep when she was woken up by the weird prickly feeling skating up and down her spinal cord. It always happened if someone was watching her or if there was a demon nearby.

She cracked open an eye and lifted her head a couple of centimeters off the book she had made her impromptu pillow, and was dismayed discover that her suspicions were correct. Someone was watching her. And there was a demon nearby. In fact, the nearby demon happened to be watching her.

Lifting her head a little more Kagome was embarrassed to realize that the side of her face that had been lying on the book felt significantly cooler than the rest of her face. Which meant that she had drooled all over her school books. And judging by the amused glint in the eyes of the demon staring at her, he had not failed to notice.

"Girl." Said the demon.

"Youkai." She retorted trying to discreetly wipe the drool from her face.

"You have been drooling for the past few minutes."

And that meant that she most definitely had not succeeded in wiping off the drool without him noticing. "Why, I wasn't aware of that. Thank you ever so much for pointing that out." She said sarcastically.

Sesshoumaru just smirked in response.

He was just so irritating! If someone cracked an egg and it landed on her forehead, Kagome was sure that it would be fried in a matter of minutes. And she had thought that he might be nicer to her after they had managed to call their truce the other day!

"You know you really get in my nerves, Sesshoumaru." She stated as flippantly as she could manage.

Sesshoumaru raised one snowy eyebrow. "You don't make sense girl. Don't you mean that I get _on_ your delicate nerves?"

"No," she said raising her chin a notch. "I meant what I said. You really get in my nerves. It's worse than getting on someone's nerves."

Sesshoumaru hated to ask what it could mean (it would after all encourage her to talk more than she already was) but his curiosity got the better of him. "How does one get in someone's nerves?"

Kagome just smiled cattily at him. "Why should I tell you? You aren't even being nice to me."

"That is not true. I merely greeted you and you became defensive."

Kagome opened her mouth to argue, but then she remembered that he hadn't really said or done anything for her to really get upset with him. All he had done was call her girl and tell her that she had been drooling.

"Well, it was the way you said it."

Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes. "Then, please, accept my humblest apologies"

Kagome chose to ignore the sarcasm and instead said, with the most serious expression that she could conjure up after having been asleep moments before, "I accept."

"So tell me how one goes about getting in someone's nerves."

"Well, like I said before, it is worse than just getting on someone's nerves."

"We have established this. Explain what you meant."

"Just so you know, you and my little brother are the only ones that are able to do this."

"I'm honored," he said dryly. "No get on with it."

"As you should be. Getting on someone's nerves just means that you are irritating. When you get _in_ someone's nerves it is much worse. It means that instead of just irritating me, you have some how managed to grate on my nerves so badly that I feel like you are inside my nerves scratching away at their inner lining. It's a few steps up from that saying "I only had one last nerve left and I'll be damned if you didn't just step on it!" that was popular a few years ago."

Kagome saw both of his eyebrows disappear in the fringe of his bangs this time. "I see," he said. "That is interesting."

"Why is it interesting?" Kagome asked.

Sesshoumaru just looked at her.

"Well, why is it interesting? I answered your question, so now you have to answer mine."

"And why is that?"

"It's the only polite thing to do." She said sagely.

"Is that so?"

"Yes. You'll get bad karma of the worst kind if you don't answer my question."

Sesshoumaru almost smiled at that one. She was just so idiotic, that if he wasn't Sesshoumaru, Prince of the Dog demon clan, he might actually find her cute. But he was Sesshoumaru, Prince of the Dog demon clan, and he did not find her to be cute. He barely found her tolerable. He was just being nice to her in the hope that she would be less irritating if he didn't try to offend her.

"It is interesting to me, and that is all there is to it girl."

"Well you don't have to be all snippy about it. And I thought we had called a truce. Shouldn't you be calling me by my name, Sesshoumaru?"

"Very well. That is all there is to it, Kagome."

Kagome propped her chin up in her palm. "Not the answer I was hoping for, but at least you used my name, instead of calling me girl."

"Indeed."

"So why are you here anyway?"

"My printer decided to break while in the process of printing a paper."

"Oh." She eyed him for a second before saying, "You can sit, if you would like. You don't have to stand there. I promise that I don't bite."

Sesshoumaru doubted that if she ever did decide to bite him, which was a scary thought that he didn't want to even consider, that her weak human teeth could him do any real damage. And then he pulled out the chair across from her, and sat down.


	7. preview

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.**

Authors Note: I am so sorry for making eveyone wait this long for a chapter. I have had a LOT going on with work and school, and as of right now, everyone in my house is sick with the flu. I have had to skip my classes and take care of my cousins while my aunt and uncle went to work. And they are sicktoo. So,that being said, Ihave not had the opportunity to type the next chapter. I will have it up by Saturday morning, and I thought that I would give you a little preview of what will be happening and at the same time let you know that I have not abandoned my story. I will see you again on Saturday! And thank you for all the wonderful reviews!

Kagome and Sesshoumaru had only been sitting together for 15 minutes, talking amiably (which meant Kagome was talking amiably and Sesshoumaru was listening and refraining from making any comments that could be considered rude) to each other when they were interrupted.

"I'm sorry, Tokyo U doesn't allow Brent high school students in its libraries. I am going to have to ask you to leave the building."

Kagome's eyes widened with each word until Sesshoumaru thought that her eyes would pop out of her head. She turned around slowly, and Sesshoumaru felt a slight moment of pity for the red headed fool standing behind her. He braced himself (and his ears) for the screaming that he knew was about to take place.

And although she did scream, it wasn't in anger as he had expected. It was in excitement.

"Shippo Suzako! What are you doing here!"

Kagome stood up so fast her chair teetered on its back legs for a moment before gravity righted it. Sesshoumaru didn't think he had ever seen a human move that fast. One second she was sitting; the next she was on her feet and hugging the man that had spoken.

After Kagome released him from her bear hug, the man named Shippo said, "I go to school here."

A/N: And there is the little snippet. The rest will be posted by Saturday. When I get home from school tomorrow I am going to type up the chapter, what I don't finish will be perfected Saturday morning and then it will be posted. Thanks again!


	8. Questions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I do own a Sesshoumaru poster, a Sesshoumaru key chain, an Inuyasha calender, a bunch of Inuyasha pictures, and Inuyasha t-shirt, a few Inuyasha dvds, and some Inuyasha cds.**

Authors note: Sorry that this chapter was so long in coming. I want to thank everyone for there support. Thank you! If an extended period of me not updating ever happens again, check out my profile. I will probably post a note explaining what is going on and a rough idea of when to expect the next update. Thanks again! I hope that everyone enoys this chapter!

Kagome and Sesshoumaru had only been sitting together for 15 minutes, talking amiably (which meant Kagome was talking amiably and Sesshoumaru was listening and refraining from making any comments that could be considered rude) to each other when they were interrupted.

"I'm sorry, Tokyo U doesn't allow Brent high school students in its libraries. I am going to have to ask you to leave the building."

Kagome's eyes widened with each word until Sesshoumaru thought that her eyes would pop out of her head. She turned around slowly, and Sesshoumaru felt a slight moment of pity for the red headed fool standing behind her. He braced himself (and his ears) for the screaming that he knew was about to take place.

And although she did scream, it wasn't in anger as he had expected. It was in excitement.

"Shippo Suzako! What are you doing here!"

Kagome stood up so fast her chair teetered on its back legs for a moment before

gravity righted it. Sesshoumaru didn't think he had ever seen a human move that fast. One second she was sitting; the next she was on her feet and hugging the man that had spoken.

After Kagome released him from her bear hug, the man named Shippo said, "I go to school here."

Kagome tilted her head to one side. "Really? Since when? I thought you were going to the Americas for school."

"I was going to Georgia University, but I decided I didn't like it in America."

"Why?" she asked as she once again sat down and gestured for him to sit down in the seat beside her.

"I don't know. The whole lot of them seemed to be rude, with a few exceptions of course, and I missed everyone here."

"So why did you pick here?"

Instead of answering, Shippo glanced over at the guy sitting on the other side of the table, and Kagome started. "Oh how rude of me! Shippo, this is Sesshoumaru Motosuwa. Sesshoumaru this is Shippo Uradei. We went to high school together."

"Nice to meet you." Shippo held out his right hand for Sesshoumaru to shake. And then he let it fall to his side when Sesshoumaru didn't say anything.

He leaned over towards Kagome and whispered, "Can he talk?" never once letting his green eyes leave Sesshoumaru's golden ones.

Kagome opened her mouth to reply, but she never got the chance because Sesshoumaru did it for her. "Yes, he can."

Kagome looked between the two. They were just staring at each other. She shrugged. That was men for you.

Shippo broke the staring contest first, and turned to Kagome with a mischevious grin his face. "Kagome-chan, you look thirsty. Why don't you get us something to drink? My treat." He dug around in is jean pockets for a second until he produced a few dollars. He handed her the money and made shooing motions with his hands.

Kagome raised her eyebrow. Shippo continued to make the shooing motions until Kagome rolled her eyes and stood up. "Fine, have your secret talk. But I am buying the most expensive drink that the smoothie shop on the first floor has to offer."

"That's fine Kagome-chan. Take your time."

Shippo watched Kagome until she disappeared from sight, a soft look in his eyes. Turning, he gave Sesshoumaru a cool glare, all signs of softness gone from his eyes. "Does she know that you are an Inuyoukai?"

One of Sesshoumaru's eyebrows rose and disappeared beneath his bangs. "Does she know that you are a kitsune?"

Shippo grinned. "Fair enough. You sense it too, don't you? That she is a miko?"

Sesshoumaru's only indication that he even heard him was the slight downward motion of his head.

"She knows." He said after a moment of silence.

"Excuse me?"

"She knows I am a youkai."

Shippo's auburn eyebrows went up and disappeared into his messy bangs. "You told her?"

"She knew."

"She knew you were an Inuyoukai? That's odd. She didn't know about youkai in high school. She was a bit wary of some youkai because she sensed their jaki and didn't know what it was, but she didn't know about them."

"She could tell that I was youkai, but she did not know that I was an Inu."

"Still, in high school she didn't even know youkai existed or that she had priestess powers."

"Obviously someone has informed her."

Shippo didn't comment. He sat quietly for a few minutes, occasionally running a hand through his unruly bangs. "So she sensed that you were youkai. Interesting. I guess that means that the cat is out of the bag. Or, rather the kitsune."

"Hn."

"Ah well, thanks for clearing that up. Now I want to know why you are talking to Kagome."

"I fail to see how I have any obligation to tell you why I do anything. However," he continued when Shippo opened his mouth to say something, "since it seems you won't shut up unless your damn kitsune curiosity is satisfied, I will tell you. I was here to print a paper and she asked me to sit down."

"She asked a stranger to sit down with her?" Shippo asked skeptical that his friend, although very trusting, would randomly ask a stranger to sit with her.

Sesshoumaru's face, if possible, lost even more expression as his irritation grew. "I have met her previously."

Before Shippo could comment, a banana smoothie was set before him. "There, that is the smallest and most exspensive smoothie they have. You're just lucky that I got you your favorite flavor."

Shippo looked at her expectantly. "Where's my change? And why is the smallest the most expensive?"

Kagome scoffed. "First off, it has whipped cream and therefore costs more. Secondly, what change? I told you I was using your money. I bought a strawberry smoothie, a piece of apple pie, a cookie, and your banana smoothie."

"So where's the cookie and the piece of pie?"

"I ate them. You kicked me out of the able I was sitting at first, therefore, I spent all of your money."

"Wow, you haven't changed at all." He lifted both his hands and placed them behind his head.

"And no matter how many times it happens, you still think that I am going to give you change."

"You could have brought me the cookie."

"But then I couldn't have completed my revenge." She smiled evilly at him. "It was chocolate chip."

"You are simultaneously the sweetest and most evil woman I know."

"I know. Isn't it wonderful?"

Shippo just laughed.

"So did you get your 'secret conversation that Kagome wasn't allowed to hear' out of the way?"

"Who said I was having a conversation you couldn't hear?"

Kagome gave him a deadpan look, clearly not believing what he was saying.

Seeing her expression, Shippo gave up and said, "Yes."

"Good, because I wasn't going to leave again, even if you promised me free oden."

XXXXXXXXXX

"I wasn't trying to make him leave, I swear." Shippo said in his most innocent voice. Which usually meant he was being anything but innocent. And judging by the snort he just heard, Kagome knew it.

Kagome linked her hands together and raised them above her head until she felt the joints in her shoulders 'pop' releasing the pressure. "Uh huh. And after talking to him for a few uninterrupted minutes, you couldn't tell that he would be annoyed when you asked a stupid question every 5 seconds."

"Um, no?"

"Try again."

"May be?"

"You're getting warmer."

"It was a possibility?"

"You're almost there."

"It was a distinct possibility?"

"Shippo!"

"Alright already. I knew it would irritate him. What does it matter? You don't like him do you?"

Kagome squirmed under his suddenly penetrating look. "No, he's irritating."

"How irritating?"

"He gets in my nerves irritating."

"That bad huh?"

"That bad." She said solemnly.

They walked in silence for a few minutes until Shippo asked, "So what were you doing talking to him?"

"Well, I called a truce with him the other day, so I was trying to be nice to him. He can be semi decent when he isn't being completely arrogant and demeaning."

"Interesting."

"Speaking of interesting, you never did tell me why you decided to go to Tokyo U."

"Like I said, I didn't like America as much as I thought I would, and I knew that you had decided to attend Tokyo U. So, I decided that instead of being miserable in America, I would be happy with you."

Kagome smiled warmly at him. "You'll love it here."

Shippo smiled back a light in his eyes that shined only for her. "I already do," he said softly.


	9. This Could Be Interesting

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I own some dvd's, a Sesshoumaru poster, and plenty of pictures on my computer.**

**Authors Note: I am so sorry that it has been so long since I last updated. Shortly after my last update the internet router at my house shorted out and I have been without the internet ever since. I just got it back yesterday. So here is the next chapter. I want to thank everyone for the reviews from last chapter and I apologize for not replying to all of them. Hopefully my internet won't go bonkers again. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.**

Shippo sighed out of complete boredom. Classes could be so boring. They were so routine. It was the same thing everyday. There had to be a way to spice up his day. He wondered what Kagome was doing. She would be able to alleviate his boredom. Maybe he should give her a call once his classes were over for the day.

Shippo had just reached for his cell phone after his last class of the day had let out when he saw the silver haired guy Kagome had been talking to the day before leaving the chemistry building. He grinned evilly to himself and closed his cell with a snap. This could be fun . . .

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru took a deep cleansing breath. Being a dog demon and in a chemistry class wasn't exactly a pleasurable experience. In fact, it was rather painful. If all of the chemical smells on their own weren't bad enough, when the idiots in his class made mistakes mixing the chemicals . . .Sesshoumaru wasn't sure how he stayed standing.

After many deep breaths he was able to detect smells other than the ones found in his chemistry lab. And it made him curse that he had not been able to do so sooner.

That damn fox from the other day was coming his way. And he looked like a kid who had discovered where his parents hid the Christmas presents. What had he done to build up this kind of karma?

He watched in mild disbelief as the kitsune waltzed up to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. He turned and glared at the offending hand, but it didn't affect the kitsune like it did others. The hand stayed where it was. Until Sesshoumaru cracked his knuckles.

Then the hand was removed post haste.

XXXXXXXXXX

Shippo swallowed and let out a nervous laugh. The glare he could handle (he was a kitsune, who hadn't glared at him? But the cracking knuckles unnerved him. They promised pain. Especially when Sesshoumaru, known for his stoicism, started to smile . .

Clearing his throat in hopes of distracting the irritated demon before him from any murderous thoughts that might be floating around in his brain, Shippo gave a weak smile before remembering his mission. He was here to alleviate his boredom after all. He should be fearless. The angrier he made Sesshoumaru, the more entertainment, right?

"So where are you headed off to? To see Kagome?" Shippo's eyes narrowed suspiciously. When no answer was forthcoming, he asked again. "Well, are you going to see Kagome?"

"What I do is none of your business." Shippo suppressed a shiver at the cold glare Sesshoumaru leveled at him. He looked away rather than trying to keep Sesshoumaru's gaze, and grinned at what he saw.

"Well, it doesn't matter if you were looking for her now."

"Why?"

Shippo's grin intensified. "Because she's headed this way."

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome hummed to herself as she walked along. She was having a wonderful day. She had aced her Geography quiz, the sun was shining, and had only talked to people that were also in pleasant moods, so she had not dealt with any grumpy people. Life was good.

As she was passing between the magnolia trees she spotted Shippo and Sesshoumaru outside the chemistry building. Her smile grew when she saw that they seemed to be having a civil conversation. She was strangely happy with the thought that Sesshoumaru could be nice to one of her friends. Now if only he was nice to her . . .

Kagome shook her head. _Where had that come from?_ She wondered. She didn't want Sesshoumaru to be nice to her. She didn't even really like Sesshoumaru, did she? Well, whether she did or didn't it wasn't important because there was no way Sesshoumaru liked her. Sesshoumaru barely tolerated her after all . . .

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru raised his right hand and rubbed his fingers across his temple a few times to alleviate the ache he could feel forming there. This was all he needed. The protective psycho kitsune and little miss merry sunshine together. Who knew what they would do to him?

"Hello!" A voice behind him chirped. "What are the two of you doing?"

Sesshoumaru turned around to look at the girl standing behind him. She was wearing a yellow dress that fell to just past her knees with a light blue, short sleeved cardigan to cover her shoulders. She looked good, for a human girl anyway.

"I was just leaving."

"Oh don't go because of me."

"I assure you, I would be leaving regardless of whether you were here." Sesshoumaru said as he turned to follow through with his statement, but stopped when he felt his hand being grabbed.

"Don't go."

Sesshoumaru stopped, his hand clasped in Kagome's.

"We can hang out together. Just the three of us. I don't have another class today and Shippo doesn't have another class until 7:00. We could go to the movies or grab a bite to eat somewhere. If you're short on time we could go to the café where I work. It's close by."

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome unknowingly held her breath as she waited for his answer. Why did his answer matter so much? She could feel her heart beating faster within the confines of her chest. She felt like a school girl asking her crush out on a date.

_But that's ridiculous because I am not a simpering little school girl. And more importantly, _she mentally chided herself; _I'm NOT asking him on a date. A date is when two people go out alone together. Shippo is coming with us. And the two people have to like each other. Sesshoumaru doesn't even really like me as a friend, much less like that._

Kagome was startled out of her mental tirade with herself when she heard Sesshoumaru's answer.

"Very well."

And even if she had wanted too, she wouldn't have been able to stop the smile that came to her face. And she didn't try.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Please, Kagome! Have mercy on my poor, poor soul!"

"Why should I?" She asked as she stared down the 'barrel' of her straw at the red head sitting across from her.

The kitsune squirmed in his seat, trying to come up with an answer that would spark pity in the woman before him. "Because I'm an orphan and I have suffered enough in my life without you adding to my torment?" Hope blossomed within his chest when she seemed to consider his answer, her head tilting to the side and a thoughtful look coming to her face.

"Hmmmmm. That is a very good reason for me not to cream you."

Shippo sighed in relief.

"However, it isn't good enough."

Shippo's smile slid right off his face and he rapidly tried to come up with a different answer. "Kagome! Please don't-"

SPLAT!

"Do it." He finished. "Great." Shippo cocked his head to the side. "You realize this means war." He grabbed a napkin and wiped the gunk off his shirt that Kagome had just graced him with courtesy of her straw.

"Bring it on." She said preparing another straw full of ice cream and bits of straw wrapper.

Sesshoumaru stopped in front of the booth and watched what they were doing. He rolled his disgustedly. He lifted the tray when a stray spitball headed towards the food.

Kagome turned her head to avoid a spitball and saw Sesshoumaru standing with their food. "Shippo stop." She swatted a spitball back at Shippo. "Sesshoumaru is back with the food." She scooted over to allow Sesshoumaru space into the booth.

"Thanks for getting that for us, Sesshoumaru."

Sesshoumaru sat down and set the tray on the table. "Do not concern yourself. Obviously you were preoccupied and I would have hated to have interrupted."

Kagome reached for the food and started passing it out. Sesshoumaru noticed that she had the grace to blush.

"Kagome," said Shippo. "I have a question."

She waited for him to continue, but after waiting about 15 seconds she realized he wasn't going to. She rolled her eyes heavenward. "Yes Shippo?" she prompted.

"There are servers here right?"

"Yes."

"So how come Sesshoumaru had to go and get the food?"

"I don't know. He probably went up there to get away from us and just decided to bring the food to us while he was at it." She turned to Sesshoumaru. "Does that sound about right?"

"It is close enough."

"Kagome, what are you doing here on your day off?"

"Kagura, how are you? I'm eating lunch with some friends."

"I'm fine. Who are these two?" she asked her eyes lingering on Sesshoumaru."

"This is Shippo and Sesshoumaru. And this is Kagura."

"Nice to meet you."

Shippo looked from Sesshoumaru to Kagura. This could be interesting.


	10. The Scheme

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or anything that could possibly make me get any profit off of anything in the Inuyasha world. I do own a Sesshoumaru poster, a Sesshoumaru poster, a Kagome t-shirt, movies 1, 2, and 3, as well as the entire Inuyasha series. Woo hoo. Oh I also own the plot for this story and any original characters that may or may not appear.**

**Authors Note:** First I want to say that between my last update and the one before it, I was given the entire Inuyasha series as a gift as well as all 3 movies by my boyfriend who pointed out to me that I did not mention owning them in my disclaimer last chapter. So there it is. I said and I said who gave it to me. THANK YOU! because I love it! Moving on, thank you everyone for your reviews and I hope you enjoy this chapter. I stayed up until 1 in the morning to finish it and woke up this morning to double check it. Oh and one more thing, does anyone know who "a girl from the well" is? If you reayd her reviews, especially the first two they are very . . . . odd. Now on with the story and "a girl from the well" I still appreciate your reviews, please don't take offense!

After watching the way Kagura kept looking at Sesshoumaru, Shippo began to formulate a plan in his mind. This Kagura girl could help him with his plans for Kagome.

"Nice to meet you, Kagura."

Kagura spared him a cool glance then went back to eyeing Sesshoumaru. "So Sesshoumaru, what do you do?" She asked leaning toward him putting her elbow on the table and resting her head in her hand.

Sesshoumaru's expression didn't change one iota but he said, "Currently I am a

student at Tokyo University."

XXXXXXXXXX

"So what's up with you and the hottie?" Kagura asked as she and Kagome bused off a table together.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kagome said as she stacked the plates on the table.

"Oh come on, Kagome!" Kagura nudged her in the side with her elbow. "That was the guy from the other day. By the time he left you were very irritated. How did you end up eating lunch with him yesterday?"

"I've ran into him a couple of times and he was talking to Shippo so I invited him to lunch with us. That's all." She finished stacking the plates and started gathering the glasses next.

Kagura raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's all?"

Kagome gave an exasperated sigh. "Yes I am sure that that it is all." She eyed the food gunk she had gotten on her hands with distaste and quickly wiped it on her apron.

"So," Kagura began as she wiped some spilled tea off the table, "you wouldn't

mind if I were to ask him out?"

"Why would it bother me?" she started putting all of the dishes into the bus tub.

"I don't know. I thought you might like him or something." She threw dirty napkins and crumpled up straw wrappers into the tub. "You were eating lunch with him after all."

"I eat lunch with a lot of different people," she winced as she heard a plate shatter in the kitchen, "and I don't like them."

"I was just making sure." Kagura watched her for a long moment as if to assure herself that Kagome was telling the truth.

"Well thank you for looking out for my feelings, but it wasn't necessary." She said as they headed over towards the next dirty table. "I don't like Sesshoumaru like that." She studiously ignored the feeling she got in the pit of her stomach at the thought of Sesshoumaru and Kagura together.

Kagura eyed her thoughtfully. "If you say so."

XXXXXXXXXX

Shippo hummed to himself as he washed his dishes and thought about his conversation with Kagura the day before when he had stopped to talk to her before leaving and walking back to campus with Kagome. Sesshoumaru had left and headed home. Which was fine with Shippo because he had wanted to spend some time with just Kagome anyway.

_"What do you want runt?" she asked glaring at him with glacial eyes._

_"Well you see, I couldn't help but notice how you were looking at the dog, and I was wondering if you were interested in dating him._

_She looked at him suspiciously for a moment. "Isn't Kagome dating him?"_

_"You thought she was dating him?"_

_Kagura snorted. "Well she wasn't friends with him a few days ago, so I assumed he asked her out."_

_"Let me get this straight. You actually though they were dating and you spent 15 minutes looking at him like you wanted to throw him down on the table right in front of her?"_

_Kagura shrugged. "Kagome knows that while I may look, I wouldn't put the moves on a guy she's interested in."_

_Shippo shook his head and cleared his throat. "At any rate, would you go out with him or not?"_

_"If Kagome wasn't interested, I would." Her eyes narrowed in suspicion and flashed red briefly. "Why do you want to know so badly?"_

_Shippo grinned and let his eyes flash bright green. "I believe it would help my plans get the desired result much faster."_

_"And just what are your plans?"_

_"First, you have to know that I've known Kagome for a long time . . ."_

In the end Kagura had agreed to his scheme. She had the chance to date a strong demon, and if all went according to plan, by the end of it, Kagome would be in a happy relationship.

Shippo rubbed his hands together gleefully in his soapy dishwater. His plan was coming along nicely.

XXXXXXXXXX

Ding.

Kagome looked up from the geography textbook that she had brought to work with her. It was just one guy, and seeing how he was pretty attractive (he had messy bangs with the rest of his black hair pulled back in a short pony tail at the base of his skull and violet eyes), Kagome figured that Kagura would want to be his server. She watched as he sat down and waited for someone to come over.

After a minute it became apparent to Kagome that Kagura wasn't going to come so she closed her book and stowed it away under the counter. She looked around and saw that Kagura was still busy flirting with the blonde, Australian accented guy at table 4.

She rolled her eyes heavenward. Kagura went after anything that she deemed remotely attractive with a vengeance. And, Kagome noted, it didn't matter if they were single or not. At least it looked that way if she were to go by the look the cute brunette sitting across from the Australian was giving Kagura. It screamed BACK OFF loud and clear.

Sighing good naturedly she went over to the lone man waiting patiently. "Hi, my name's Kagome and I will be your server for the night. What can I get you to drink?"

The man looked at her oddly for a moment then asked, "What did you say your name was?"

A little wary and confused, she answered "Kagome."

The man smiled delightedly and said "Well that is a lovely name. Almost as lovely as you."

A light blush stole over Kagome's cheeks and she mumbled a quick "Thank you" before regaining her professionalism. "And what would you like to drink?"

"I would like some green tea please."

"Anything else I can help you with?"

"Yes actually, there is something else you could help me with. Would you bare my children?"

Kagome felt a blush cover her from head to toe. What the hell kind of question was that? Her eyes widened until she thought they were in danger of falling out. "Exscuse me!"

"Would you bare my children, dear sweet Kagome?"

"I don't even know you! You pervert!"

"Well, let me rectify that. My name is Miroku. Is that better? Now will you consider bearing my children?" He asked in his most innocent and endearing voice.

It wasn't innocent or endearing enough. _Screw being professional!_ She thought before she raised back her hand and . . .

SMACK!

"No! What the hell is your problem?"

Kagura turned around in time to see a red faced and near hyperventilation Kagome standing over the prone form of one of their customers.

"Oh my God. All of that studying finally made her lose it." She mumbled to herself before quickly striding over to see what was going on.

"Kagome! What's going on?"

"He just-he just- he just asked me to have children with him! And he just walked in the door 5 minutes ago!"

Kagura cocked an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yes. He really did!"

"Interesting." She eyed him with interest for a moment before stooping down to help him up.

Grabbing the offered hand, Miroku let her haul him to his feet. "Ah fair maiden. You have such a beautiful soul to help a man when he is injured. May I inquire as to your name?"

"Kagura."

"And you have such a beautiful name." he grasped one of her hands and covered it with his. "Would you consider baring my children?"

"Name the time and place." She said with a wink and a lecherous grin before sauntering away to flirt some more with the Australian..

"Huh?" came the reply from both Miroku and Kagome. But Miroku quickly recovered after shaking his head a few times, possibly to ease the shock of not being laid flat for his question. "I don't suppose you would give me her number would you?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru had fallen asleep on his black Italian leather couch and was having a nice dream when the shrill tones of his phone woke him up. He cracked open one eye and reached behind his head for the phone. After looking at the caller id he considered ignoring the call, but then realized that it would be pointless, because they would just keep calling until he answered. Or until he went insane. "What do you want Miroku? I was sleeping."

"Why are you sleeping now? It's only 9:00."

"Because I wished to sleep."

"Right."

"What is it that you want? I will not ask again. If you do not answer I will hang

up the phone."

"You do realize that I would just call you back, right?"

"And you do realize that I would take the phone off the hook."

"Oh, right. Well I wanted to tell you that I met that girl today?"

"Which girl? You meet many girls all of whom render you unconscious within five minutes of meeting you."

"That girl that you keep running into, Kagome. I went to the café where she works and she was my waitress. She a real looker. I can see why you like her."

"Hn. First of all, I do not like her. She is an annoying human just like you. Secondly, why did you go to the café?"

"I wanted to meet the girl that has gotten under your skin."

"She has not gotten under my skin." Sesshoumaru groaned when he realized what had probably occurred at the café, although he wasn't entirely sure why he cared what happened to the girl. "You asked her didn't you?"

"Psh. Of course I asked her! She's a pretty girl."

"Did she smack you?"

"Knocked me flat."

"Were you expecting different results? That is what happens every time is it not?"

"Actually, another waitress there took me up on it. She told me to name the time and the place."

". . ."

"Sesshoumaru, are you still there?"

"I do believe that I am still sleeping."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because the only other possible explanation for a girl agreeing to that is if hell had frozen over."

"Ha ha. Anyway, nothing happened because I had to go before she got off work."

"Someone finally agrees and you chickened out."

"I did not chicken out. I had places to be."

"Such as none of your business. Get over it. I just wanted to tell you that I met the lovely Ms. Kagome."

"And now that you have told me, I am going back to sleep."

"Sweet dreams fair prince."

Click.

Miroku laughed when he heard the dial tone. Sesshoumaru never could take a joke.

After hanging up on Miroku, Sesshoumaru tried to go back to sleep, but he couldn't because the conversation had reminded him of why he had went to sleep in the first place.

His father had called and imparted some very disturbing news. Sesshoumaru just wanted to go back to sleep so he could forget.


	11. Were too!

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Inuyasha. I do own the entire series (curtousey of my boyfriend-thanks again by the way!), a Sesshoumaru poster, a Sesshoumaru keychain, a Kagome T-shirt, and all of the Inuyasha movies. And most of that was bought by my boyfriend. Isn't he awesome?**

**Authors Note: Sorry that this took so long. I have had internet problems, I have been out of town a lot and things like that. But here it is as promised. Sorry that it took so long for me to reply to most of my reviewers! Enjoy!**

Golden eyes opened languidly, taking their time in adjusting from dreams to reality. It was such a nice place to be though . . . A world where his father could not change his life with a few simple words.

'But I'm not in that world, I'm in reality.' It was a sobering thought and more than enough to finish the transition becoming alert to the world around him. Standing fluidly with more grace than a male should possess, virtue of the demon blood running through his veins, he shuffled over to the kitchen to get some breakfast only to realize that he still didn't have any groceries. 'Damn. This is all fathers fault.' With a sigh he pulled on the first clothes he found and resigned himself to the fact that he was going to have to go out if he wanted to eat.

After he left the building he asked a passing stranger for the nearest place that served both coffee and real food.

He would need his strength for the day ahead of him.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome lifted her hand lazily to stifle her yawn, arching her back as she stretched, and then slumped back down putting her chin back in her hand. She was working the morning shift and it was beyond boring. There just weren't a lot of people up at 7 in the morning on a Saturday.

Except, she added to herself, people with crappy restaurant jobs (such as herself), Wal Mart and Waffle House workers (the latter of which she supposed counted as a restaurant), and the old married couples that went to bed early and woke up at the crack of dawn so that they could all congregate at McDonalds. And apparently, she amended once the bell above the door chimed signaling the arrival of a customer, punk guys with baseball caps.

The first thing she noticed about him was the mass of silver hair protruding from underneath his hat. She thought for a second that it might be Sesshoumaru, but dismissed the idea when she noticed that he was a bit too short and his hair was a bit too wild to be the youkai she knew. She didn't want to think on the fact that she could also tell he wasn't Sesshoumaru because his hair, while silver, was just a shade darker. That would mean she knew the exact color of Sesshoumaru's hair, and thinking of what that knowledge meant gave her a headache.

The mystery man looked around for a second and then crossed the room to the table farthest from the door and sat down. Retying her apron as she went, Kagome walked over to greet him. By the time she was done tying her apron she had made it to his table. His head was bent, elbows on the table, and his palms were rubbing furiously at his eyes in a possible attempt to become more awake. It seemed to her that he was fighting a losing battle. "Hi," she began. "My name is Kagome and I'll be your server this . . . morning . . ." She trailed off when he didn't even look up. How rude! Was every silver haired guy that she met going to be like this?

She took a deep breath and tried again with the same results. What was he, deaf? She bent at the waist so that she could say it directly into his ear, but then she noticed that his eyes were closed. She straightened abruptly unable to believe what she was seeing. But the loud snore that he emitted proved her theory. He was asleep. She knew he had been awake before she got to the table. As she was walking towards the table he had still been awake. He'd still been rubbing at his eyes when she was 2 steps away and had stopped right when she reached it. How could anyone fall asleep that fast? It had taken her what, two seconds to greet him? Was he narcoleptic? Should she wake him up, or was it dangerous, like waking up a sleep walker?

Unsure about what she should do, having never been in a similar situation before; Kagome decided that the best course of action was to wait until he woke up on his own. She walked back to the kitchen where Kaede and another girl, Kanna, were preparing some hamburger meat.

"Hey you two," she said leaning against the long steel table they were using to pound the hamburger meat.

"Hello child," said Kaede. Kanna just smile brightly for a second and gave a little wave before going back to pound the meat. Kagome thought that Kanna looked like she was having just a little too much fun pounding it but figured she was imagining it. Kanna was Kagura's sister, but unlike her older sister, she was quiet by nature. She was a very sweet girl, but until she got to know you she usually opted to not speak unless absolutely necessary.

Kanna had started working at the café a few weeks ago and she now doubled as part of the kitchen staff and as a server. She usually did whichever was needed of her the most depending on how busy it was. That was why she was in the kitchen today. Kagome had been at the café long enough that she could handle it by herself. And if nothing else, if it became too much for her, Kanna could come help her until the rush was over.

Kanna had been the deciding factor in helping Kagome figure out if Kagura was a youkai (without her actually having to come straight out and ask of course). Kanna had silvery white hair and the blackest eyes Kagome had ever seen. After seeing Sesshoumaru, she knew that they were youkai. Humans just didn't have hair that color unless they were really old or they dyed it. Speaking of silver hair and youkai, the guy that as sleeping at her table had silver hair, so he was youkai too. Unless of course he had dyed. He did look the type of punk to do that . . .

"Oh no!" Her eyes widened comically in face of her horror. She had left him out there! What if he had woken up while she was back here socializing? "Sorry guys, I have to go back up front. There's a customer." She added at their questioning looks. Then she scurried of to the front.

When she got there she saw that he was awake. And judging by the scowl on his face he was a tad upset. She walked over and gave her greeting again. "Keh. What took you so long wench?"

Kagome felt her left eye twitch from irritation and fought to keep her smile in place. "You fell asleep sir." How dare he call her a wench! The jerk wasn't even looking at her!

"No I didn't. I've been sitting here waiting for some service for God knows how long while you were off doing God knows what. I wouldn't expect much of a tip if I were you."

"Sir," she began after taking what she hoped was a calming breath. "You were asleep."

"I think I would know better than you whether or not I was asleep, and I wasn't asleep."

"Well the snores say otherwise."

"I didn't snore because I wasn't asleep."

Kagome kissed her temper good-bye. Screw getting a tip! "Yes you were!"

"No I wasn't!"

"Yes you were!"

"No I wasn't!"

"Yes you were!"

"No I wasn't!"

"Yes you were!"

"No I wasn't!"

5 minutes later . . .

"Yes you were!"

"No I wasn't!"

"Yes. You. Were!"

"No. I. Wasn't!"

"Were too!"

"Was not"

"Were too!"

"Was not!"

Kagome let out a frustrated shriek and chucked her pen at him.

He was stunned into silence when the black ball point pen smacked him right between the eyes. 'Huh, he has eyes just like Sesshoumaru.' But the silence didn't last long. "What the hell was that bitch!"

"Don't call me a bitch! I can have you thrown out of here in a heartbeat! And you were asleep. I went back to the kitchen and I came back not 5 minutes later. You haven't been waiting that long. So calm down and tell me what you want so that you can leave sooner."

"Damn! You get straight to the point don't you?" Kagome just gave him a dry look. "I like that. What did you say your name was again? My name is Inuyasha. Inuyasha Motosuwa."

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru gulped down the rest of his drink and scowled at the nearest wall. His father had called last night and given him the worst news he had heard since finding out that his father had gotten a human woman pregnant. His brother was going to be coming to the same school as he was. No one understood how acutely depressing it was to share even half of his blood line with the fool. His musing were interrupted when his telephone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey."

"What do you want?" Sesshoumaru growled.

"Father told me to call so calm down."

"You have now called. So hang up."

"Wait! I wanted to ask you something."

"Ask so that I may be rid of your annoying presence sooner."

"Do you know a girl named Kagome?"

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed into slits. "And why would you want to know that half breed?"


	12. And Why Would I Do That?

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. I tried to save up the money to buy at least Sesshomaru, but I ended up spending it on silly things like food and gas. Stupid of me I know. I need to learn more self control.**

**Authors Note:** Hello everyone! I apologize for the wait on this chapter but I went out of town yet again. In fact I am leaving again in about 10 minutes. Iwent and hid from the company today to finish this chapter so that I could post it before I left again and viola! I finished like 5 minutes ago. I hope everyone likes the chapter! Happy 4th of July!

"And why would you want to know that?"

"So you do know her?"

Sesshoumaru felt his left eye begin to twitch in irritation. "I did not say that. I merely asked as to why you would require such information."

"Well, I needed a caffeine fix this morning after I woke up, so I-"

"I don't need to hear you recount every pathetic detail of your day, I need you to

Answer the question." Sesshoumaru had to focus to prevent himself from growling.

"Remind me what the question was again?"

Inuyasha could almost feel his half brothers jaki coming through the phone. "Heh heh," he laughed nervously. "I was just kidding."

"Then stop wasting my time and answer."

"I went to Ochiru's Café this morning and met a waitress named Kagome."

"And you believe that I know her?"

"Yep."

When Inuyasha failed to elaborate Sesshoumaru prompted him by saying, "You believe this because . . ."

"Because when I said my name she asked me if I had a brother."

"That still does not tell me why if I know her is relevant."

"Because if you know her, you could tell me whether or not she's single. She wouldn't tell me."

"Even if I did know this girl, do you honestly believe I would help you?"

". . . . . ."

"You are wasting your time."

"But-"

"And Inuyasha."

"What?"

Inuyasha shivered at the steel in his brother's voice. "Leave the girl alone."

_Click_

Inuyasha sat with the phone to his ear until he heard a dial tone. Then he leaned back in his chair and put the phone back in its cradle, frowning when the phone cord tangled up in the legs of his swivel chair. As he bent down to untangle it, his new roommate walked in.

"What are you doing Inuyasha?" asked the amused voice from the doorway.

"What does it look like, stupid? I'm untangling the phone cord."

"I meant when you were on the phone, what were you doing then?"

"I called Sesshoumaru to ask about that girl I told you about earlier."

"Ah. And how did that work out for you?"

"He hung up on me." Inuyasha's face darkened into a scowl.

"And based on what previous experience with your brother-"

"Half brother." Inuyasha corrected.

"Fine. Based on what previous experience with your half brother did you expect a different result?"

Inuyasha's scowl deepened even further and if looks could kill he would have been alone in the room with the dead body of his roommate. Fortunately, (for the roommate) looks couldn't kill.

"You know if you sit there like that long enough your face will get stuck that way."

"Bastard."

"Now now. No need to get snippy with me."

"Snippy? What are you Miroku a girl?"

"No, but speaking of girls, there's this club-"

"Do you ever think of anything other than girls?"

Miroku looked puzzled. "Why would I want to do that?"

Inuyasha looked at him in disgust. "How do you live a normal life?"

"To the best of my ability." Miroku suddenly found his finger nails very interesting. "You were asking for information about the girl from the café weren't you?"

"Yeah. What of it?" Inuyasha asked suspiciously.

"Well, I have been to the café before."

"So?"

"So for a nominal fee, I could give you some information."

"How do I know you really know the same girl or that you aren't just going to take my money and run?"

"Her name is Higurashi Kagome."

"You knew who she was and you let me call Sesshoumaru? You little-"

"Now, now Inuyasha. I would be happy to supply you with information, but only if you ask nicely. And of course, you'll have to pay me."

Inuyasha stood up and reached into his back pocket. He pulled his wallet out and counted out some money. "You're a damn con artist."

Miroku grinned cheekily at him. "Why thank you my friend."

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome wasn't in a good mood. She had over slept this morning because of the double she had pulled the night before. Some guy named Inuyasha kept trying to get her number and she suspected that he was somehow related to Sesshoumaru. How many other silver haired guys could there be that weren't either related or really old? After that fiasco the creepy kid had come in and stared at her until Kagura had come in that afternoon. Then he had alternated staring at the two of them. He just put his chin in his hands and stared at them like a starving man that was chained to a wall with food just inches out of his reach. And they were the food.

Then Kagura had some how convinced her to close for her (even though she opened that morning) and it took more time than usual to clean the place up. Then she walked Kaede home. Which meant she got in late. Which meant that she didn't get a lot of sleep because Shippo had no consideration for those that worked nights; he had called her at some ungodly hour (some time before 9:00) and asked her to do him a favor.

Which brought her to where she was now, sitting on a park bench waiting for him to get there. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and all Kagome wanted to do was close the blinds to block out the sun, find her bb gun and dispose of the birds so that she could go back to sleep. It was 9:35 which meant he was 5 minutes late. Which meant she could have slept for five more minutes. She was so going to kill him when he got there. He had deprived her of her sleep and then he had the gall to be late! The nerve of him!

She watched as a little freckled faced boy tormented his equally freckled faced sister. Currently he was picking up mud and slinging it at her. Next he dropped it down her shirt. When boredom set in from that, he moved on to simply shoving her face into the mud.

She must have dosed off for a minute because the next thing she knew Shippo was sitting on the bench beside her, shaking her awake. She opened her eyes slowly to let them adjust to the light.

"You're late," she said groggily.

"How would you know?" he quipped. "You were sleeping."

"I know because you were late before I fell asleep."

"Oh." Shippo said sheepishly. "Sorry for making you wait like that. I had a little trouble getting out of the house."

"That's fine." She said lifting her hand and covering her mouth to hide a yawn. "Now explain to me again why I will be doing this for you."

"Because you love me?"

"Try again." She said dryly.

"Because there is no one on this planet I trust more than you to do this for me?"

"You're getting closer, because that is true, but it isn't why you're asking me is it?"

"You know me too well."

"So tell me why you so desperately want me to do this."

"Well I asked my mom but she flat out refused claiming that the idea disgusted her and my dad said he would rather put a bullet through his skull. My next door neighbor said that I had a better chance as a snow ball in hell, and that left you."

"What makes you think I will do this if all of these other people find the idea so abhorrent?"

"Because I really need someone to do this for me."

Kagome just raised an eyebrow.

"It will only be for a week."

The other eyebrow went up.

"I'll pay you."

"How much?"

"$100.00."

"To put up with Cujo? Try again."

"Fine. I'll give you $200.00 plus supply you with the food."

"It's a deal." Kagome made him shake her hand. "So when do you want me to come pick up your dog?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru sat on the balcony of his apartment sipping coffee from his favorite mug and thinking about the phone call he had received the night before.

He didn't know why but it disturbed him to know that his brother was interested in Kagome. He didn't know why he should care. She was a nuisance and so was his brother. By all means they were perfect for each other.

He ran his hand through his hair and sighed out loud.

So why did the thought of them together make him want to kill his brother?


	13. Dog Walking

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha although I now have Sesshoumaru! My wonderful wonderful boyfriend buoght him for me. Can you believe that the store had him for sale?**

**Authors Note:** This chapter came out earlier than I expected. So I decided I would go ahead and post it since the last few updates I kept you waiting. I made a new story called Winds of Change that I would love for all of you to check out. It is all about the S/K and if you like it enough, I will do a prequel to it so you see how WoC came about. Tell me what you want! I will be more than happy to oblige. Also, should Naraku be in this story? Do you want the Shikon? I can go either way so I figred I would ask and would do it the way the readers wanted it. Just review and let me know!

"How in the name of all that is holy, was I ever convinced to dog sit Cujo?" wailed a presently very frustrated and disheveled Kagome. She ran a hand through her bangs in an attempt to make them less like they had never seen a hair brush and more like a picture in Vogue magazine. After a few failed attempts she settled on just getting all of the tangles out. Looking around her room she decided that $200 wasn't enough to keep the dog from hell. She was going to charge Shippo extra for the restraint she was using not to call animal control and having the thing he called a dog put to sleep. She sighed and took out the pen and paper she had kept handy since the day before. The stupid thing broke things faster than she could write them down.

She had managed to lock it in the bathroom earlier by waving a piece of turkey in the air and tossing it onto the bathroom floor. Cujo had bounded in after it and Kagome had then promptly shut the door on the horrid creature. Now she was trying to clean up the mess Cujo had made of her room. Her computer chair was shredded into about a thousand different pieces, her throw pillows were no longer pillows more than they were random pieces of fluff, and the unfortunate hair brush that she had left on the floor was now a mangled piece of plastic. If she hadn't seen the few pieces of bristles the dog hadn't swallowed she wouldn't have known that it had been a brush.

She winced as she heard the unmistakable sound of crumpling plastic coming from her bathroom. She decided that Shippo was going to pay her for damages too. She made a small noise of sympathy at how much he was going to owe her. Being in college herself, she knew how tight money could be, and judging from the sounds emanating from her bathroom, Shippo's bill was growing by the minute. Maybe she would be nice and let him pay her in increments.

When she heard glass shatter she decided that it was time to call Sango and take Cujo for a walk. Maybe she could tire him out and he would sleep. And if that didn't work, she could always swing by the vet and see if they had any tranquilizers . . .

XXXXXXXXXX

"Tell me again how sweet, adorable little Shippo ended up with this devil spawned dog?" Asked Sango as she walked along beside Kagome.

"I don't know." Kagome quickened her pace when Cujo broke out into a trot. "He picked him out at the pet store when Cujo was a puppy two years ago. When he took him home the first thing he did was bite Shippo's dad. That's why they named him Cujo. After that Stephen King novel, because his mom thought the thing might have rabies. They went to the doctor to see if Shippo's dad had been infected and then went straight to the vet to get the dog his shots."

"I would have had him put down."

"At the moment, I'm wishing his parents had too." Kagome switched the leash from her left to right hand. She gestured at the huge Great Dane, "I mean look at him. We've been walking him for thirty minutes and he hasn't slowed one bit. Plus I've been drug through the mud twice." She wiped her free hand on the sides of her sweat pants in a futile attempt to rid herself of some of the excess mud that still caked her hands.

"Why don't you hold the leash for a few minutes Sango?"

"No way," Sango said shaking her head and waving her hands. "I for one don't think mud is my color. It looks better on you."

"Then why did you come if you won't help me?"

"I came to get some exercise and laugh as you got hauled around by a dog."

"Thanks Sango. Thanks a lot."

"Any time."

Kagome was silent for a moment before announcing that she was going to take Cujo to the park.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" asked Sango worriedly. She eyed the dog warily. "I mean, what if he attacks some defenseless kid or something? You just got through telling me how he bit Shippo's dad."

Kagome frowned and hesitated for a moment before replying. "I think it will be okay. Cujo's never attacked a child." She reached forward and patted the dog on the head. "He's never attacked me; he just chews on anything he gets his teeth on. Besides, he tends to go for grown men, and I really want to sit on a park bench and people watch."

"If you say so."

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru breathed in the cool, crisp air, exhaling after savoring the relaxing moment while it lasted. Now that his brother was going to the same school and rooming with Miroku (one of the few people that Sesshoumaru actually talked to outside of necessity), he knew that relaxing, calm moments would be few and far between.

It was fall break and he was taking advantage of the extra time to get some exercise. He enjoyed going for a jog in the morning and he didn't always have the time. It was a chance for him to think and analyze.

He still hadn't figured out why he was showing more aggression towards Inuyasha. So what if the whelp wanted to know about the girl? He was half human so of course he would be interested in one. What did it matter if it was Kagome? He certainly didn't care if they were to go on a date. She was just a human after all.

So why did the thought of them together make his blood boil? Was it because he had met her first? Was he worried that she would like Inuyasha more than him? But that didn't make sense because he shouldn't care if she liked him at all.

He shook his head and sped up a bit. Maybe he was beginning to view her as a friend? Was that it? She had managed to convince him to go places with her. Was he worried that she would no longer be interested in his company if she came to know Inuyasha? The hanyou would most definitely make him out to be completely heartless as there was no love lost in their relationship.

He came out of his musings when he rounded the curve on the path and saw the girl that had been occupying his thoughts sitting on a park bench (and covered with mud from head to toe) with another dark haired girl and a Great Dane lying at her feet.

He hesitated for a second before jogging over to talk to her.

He watched as Kagome bent down and rubbed both of the dog's ears. He began to pant and gave her a doggie smile. "You aren't so bad are you?" she cooed in a baby talk voice. "Not so bad at all when you get your ears rubbed. Who's a good dog? Hmm? Who's good dog? That's right, you are. Yes you are." She said shaking her head at him never stopping her rubbing of the dog's ears.

He stopped in front of her and Kagome looked up when his shoes came into her line of vision. "Hi." She said. Then remembering her manners she pointed to the girl sitting beside her. "Sesshoumaru, this is Sango. Sango, this is Sesshoumaru. And this is Cujo." She said pointing at the dog at her feet.

"Nice to meet you," said Sango.

"You as well," said Sesshoumaru. He looked at the dog and the dog looked back still in bliss at having his ears rubbed. "I was unaware that you had a dog."

Kagome looked at Cujo and then laughed. "Cujo isn't my dog."

He looked at Sango and she quickly said "I wouldn't claim that mutt if you paid me. He's our friend Shippo's dog. Kagome's dog sitting for him."

Sesshoumaru looked at Sango curiously. "Why would you not claim the dog?"

Sango snorted. "That dog is devil spawned and evil."

He looked to Kagome for confirmation. She nodded sheepishly. "What she says is true. I decided to take him for a walk because he was destroying my dorm room. He isn't as bad as she says though. He just likes to chew on everything. He's actually pretty sweet."

"Only around you and Shippo. I swear that dog glares at me whenever one of you isn't around. And I think that he wants to bite me." Said Sango.

Sesshoumaru crouched down until he was more level with the dog. "He does not seem so bad."

"Sesshoumaru, I wouldn't-" Kagome sat up and stopped rubbing Cujo's ears.

"It is okay." Sesshoumaru cut her off. "He is just an animal. He will do me no harm."

Cujo tensed when Kagome stopped rubbing his ears. Sesshoumaru disregarded this important piece of information and reached out with his let hand to pet the dog on the head. He never expected for the dog to lunge for him.

Sesshoumaru used his demon inherited reflexes to leap out of the way before the 200 pounds of snarling dog could bite off his hand.

Kagome jumped up and looked around frantically to see if they had any spectators to Sesshoumaru's inhuman speed. She sighed in relief when it seemed that no one was paying them any attention. "Are you alright?" she asked as she pulled on the massive dog's leash in hopes of keeping him away from Sesshoumaru.

"I am fine." Sesshoumaru pulled out a leaf that had gotten caught in his hair when he had jumped away. "But that dog should be exterminated."

Kagome laughed nervously.

"I told you he was hell spawn!" crowed Sango. "This just proves my point! I say we take him to the vet right now and put him out of his misery."

"As much as he gets on my nerves and chews up my things," Kagome said rubbing her temple. "I don't think that is a good idea. He is Shippo's dog after all."

Sesshoumaru thought he might have heard her mumble "Even though I wanted to tranquilize him earlier" but he wasn't sure. "Does he always attack everyone that tries to touch him?" questioned Sesshoumaru.

"Actually, he tends to attack adult males. He seems not to like them. It isn't personal. The only guy that I haven't seen him try to take a bite out of is Shippo or someone Shippo tells him not to bite."

"No one has ever reported the dog before?"

"Amazingly, no one has." Said Sango. "Personally, I think the only two people the dog likes are Kagome and Shippo. That's why Kagome has to watch him. No one else is willing to do it. There either too scared of the dog or too scared of what the dog will do to their house. He likes it when Kagome rubs his ears and he even growled at Shippo once when he tried to get Kagome to stop."

Kagome shrugged. "What can I say? Animals like me. At least monster dogs that chew up my things do."

"Well it seems that Cujo is appropriately named. He takes after his namesake. You haven't been locked in a car with him pacing around outside waiting to chew on you have you?"

"No nothing like that. He just doesn't like strangers."

Sesshoumaru took a cautious step forward watching the dog for any signs of aggression. When he only growled lightly, he decided that it was safe. "Even if you are being paid, doesn't it cost you in the end if he destroys your belongings?"

"That's why I'm making a list of all the things Cujo destroys and Shippo will have to reimburse me."

"I have one more question."

"Shoot."

"If the dog bites, why do you let him outside?"

"I wanted him to use up some energy." She tightened her grip on the leash. "I was taking him for a walk."


	14. Secret Weapon

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. I had Sesshoumaru for a day but then his poison melted through his restraints and he escaped . . .**

**Authors Note:** HA!I bet you didn't expect to hear from me again so soon did you! Admit it, you thought it would be longer! That's okay though because I thought it would be at least a week . . .but luckily I was hit with the urge to sit down and type the ideas floating around in my brain. So here is the next chapter! Enjoy!

And a special thanks to NekoYasha101 whose review reminded me that Kagome was in fact, covered in mud. (some thing that I had forgotten) Thank you! You saved me from an error!

Sesshoumaru decided that he hated Cujo.

This was not because of Cujo had turned his pillows into bits of fluff (that he would have to clean up later), or that Cujo had chewed his autographed Nickel back co (it no longer played and it no longer resembled a co), no. It was because he had just taken a chunk out of his $800, brand new leather couch. The couch that had arrived just yesterday, that Sesshoumaru had only sat on once. And that had only been for 5 minutes because his phone had rang, and he had gotten up to answer it and never sat back down.

_Remember_, he reminded himself_. I invited her and that devil hound she calls a dog._ He winced as another chunk of his couch was swallowed._ The dog was invited, the dog was invited the dog was invited_. He figured that if he said it enough, he might control the urge to sink his claws into the beast and split it in half.

As it was, he was really regretting the past hour of his life. He had invited Kagome and her friend, Sango, to come and have tea at his apartment (though Sango was only invited so he wouldn't be considered rude).

Kagome was trying to find something in his kitchen that she claimed would make him stop devouring all of the more costly items of his home. Sango had declined his offer stating that she had errands she needed to run, and Kagome had agreed under the condition that Cujo could come too. Now he was regretting that decision as it was leading to his apartment being destroyed . . . and the dog had only been in the room 10 minutes!

Sesshoumaru gave a silent sigh of relief when he heard Kagome's triumphant call from within the kitchen. "I've got it! This will calm him down!" He watched as she came out holding her secret weapon.

He felt all hope slip through his magenta striped hands when he saw what she was holding . . . a can of ravioli. "What are you going to do with that?"

She gave him an odd look as if he was the one covered in mud and hoping to calm down a crazy, chew happy dog with a can of ravioli. "I'm going to feed it to him." She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and he was stupid for not having known it.

"And what exactly, will that accomplish other than prolonging this . . . . dog's life?"

"It will accomplish knocking him out. He sleeps like he's been given drugs when he's fed ravioli. It's like chloroform for him."

Sesshoumaru sat down on the non-mauled end of his couch. "And you know this works?"

"Yes," she said as she opened the can and poured its contents into a bowl. "Where do you want this?"

"Anywhere on the kitchen floor is fine."

Kagome sat the bowl on the floor. Cujo's ears perked up when he heard the clunk of the glass against the tile. He turned toward Kagome and upon seeing the food, wasted no time in devouring it. Moments later, just as Kagome predicted, Cujo was sound asleep on the floor.

"Whew!" Kagome said plopping down on the couch next to Sesshoumaru. "I am so glad you had ravioli!"

"I never thought I would be grateful for having bought ravioli. Is this what you have done to keep your dorm intact?"

Kagome looked sheepish. "No actually I locked him in my bathroom with a piece of turkey."

"And why did we not do that?"

"If you saw my bathroom, you'd know why."

"Then why did you do it?"

She shrugged. "I don't have any ravioli."

XXXXXXXXXX

Sango congratulated herself on a job well done. She had gotten Kagome alone with the hot guy from the café! Granted they hadn't started out as well as one could have hoped, but from the way Kagome was talking about him now, there was still hope that Kagome could get a boyfriend. In Sango's opinion, Kagome had been without one for far too long.

Sango had decided a long time ago that it would be her life's mission to see that Kagome ended up in a happy relationship. Kagome would get a boyfriend if it was the last thing she did.

Kagome hadn't had a boyfriend since the fiasco in high school. Sango frowned as she remembered what had happened when that piece of trash Kagome had thought was a good guy had decided that Kagome was too out spoken and tried to make her more demure. While there were times that Kagome should have been quieter and not so ready to share her opinions, he should never have resorted to hitting her. Sango still remembered showing up at Kagome's house to drag her to the local mall and the surprise and anger she had felt upon seeing her friends face after she had opened the door . . . it had taken hours to convince Kagome to tell her the truth about what had happened.

Kagome didn't go back to school until all traces of the abuse had faded and the culprit was expelled and had a restraining order that said he wasn't allowed within 500 feet of her, her residence, or the school. Kagome had attempted to keep it from Shippo, but he had stopped by after not seeing Kagome at school for a few days. That and Sango knew she was a terrible liar. Shippo had seen through the pathetic excuses she had been making and barged into Kagome's room on the third night of her absence. He found Kagome's ex-boyfriend that night and started a fight. No serious damage was done before bystanders had pulled the two apart, but Shippo had threatened dismemberment if he ever caught him around Kagome.

Sango shivered thinking about Kagome's ex. He had always given her chills. She still to this day didn't know what Kagome had seen in him. He was good looking sure, but his eyes . . . they just radiated malice. But he had somehow hidden it from Kagome . . . or maybe she knew and was too scared to tell. Sango still wasn't sure that had been the first time he had hit her, or just the first time he had hit her enough that no amount of make up or long sleeved clothing would hide it.

Sango shook herself out of her melancholy memories. Today was a day to be happy; Kagome was actually interested in a guy, even if she wouldn't admit it. And, another guy had shown interest in her, going as far to ask for her number!

She was so wrapped up in her mental happy dance that she didn't notice the person walking towards her until they ran into each other. "Oh, excuse me!" She said bowing and apologizing profusely.

"It's not a problem." Said the guy she had run into. He had black hair that was tied back into a rat tail and bangs that fell just into his eyes. "It isn't everyday that I get to meet such a beautiful lady."

Sango couldn't help but blush.

XXXXXXXXXX

Inuyasha grumbled to himself the entire time he was in the elevator. He had pumped Miroku for information and he still didn't know if the girl from the café, Kagome, was seeing his brother. So now he was going to get it from the horse's mouth. He couldn't believe that he wanted to know so badly about a girl that he would willingly go to see his brother. What made her so special?

He was still trying to answer that question as he knocked on the door. He was surprised though that he heard barking coming from inside and for a moment he wondered if he was at the right apartment.

He took a discreet sniff and dispelled his momentary doubt. _Nope. Right scent, right apartment._ He heard someone shuffling around and then the door opened. "What do you want half breed?"

"Well hello to you too."

"What do you want?" Sesshoumaru all but growled.

"Well invite me in and I'll tell you." When Sesshoumaru made no move to let him in he said, "The sooner you let me in, the sooner you'll be rid of me. You can't kill me. Dad won't let you."

Sesshoumaru scowled and moved aside. Inuyasha walked in and let out a low whiste. "What the hell happened here?"

Sesshoumaru gestured to the dog that had woken up from his ravioli induced coma that was currently chewing his remote control to pieces.

"Since when do you have a dog?"

"I don't."

"Then whose-"

"You have something you wish to speak to me about?" Sesshoumaru cut him off.

Inuyasha glared at him for a moment then said, "Yeah. I wanted to ask you about that girl. Miroku says you know her but he won't tell me if you're interested in her."

Sesshoumaru had the sudden powerful urge to kill. "Why are you so interested?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "I don't know. I want to ask her out but she won't tell me if she's seeing anyone, and Miroku says that you're friends with her. So can you help me out?"

"No."

"But-"

"No."

Before anything else could be said, Cujo suddenly lunged at the inu hanyou. "What the hell?" Inuyasha screamed narrowly avoiding the dog's sharp teeth. "Put a leash on that thing!"

"Get out Inuyasha."

Inuyasha did so post haste. "You will answer me later, you ass. I'm only leaving because of that thing!" he yelled as he made tracks for the door.

XXXXXXXXXX

When Kagome came back from the corner 10 minutes later she was surprised to find Cujo lying docile at Sesshoumaru's feet. But what really got to her was that Sesshoumaru was scratching him behind the ears.

"Sorry that it took so long," she said slowly not quite believing what she was seeing. "But I had a hard time finding more ravioli. That and they were a little hesitant to help me. I look like I rolled in the mud, which actually isn't that far from the truth since I was drug through it . . ." She trailed off and pulled a can out of her grocery bag. "But I cleaned them out after I found it." She walked to the couch and sat down beside Sesshoumaru. She gestured to where Sesshoumaru was still scratching the dog's ears. "What happened while I was gone?"

"I had an unexpected visitor."

"Really? Who was it?"

"My brother."

"That reminds me, does he have the same hair and eyes as you?"

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed. "Why do you ask?"

"Because this guy that looks a lot like you came into the café the other day."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we got into a yelling match and I threw my pin at him."

"That sounds like it was him."

Kagome looked around the apartment. "Where did he go?"

"I had him leave."

"Why?"

"We do not get along."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It has always been this way."

"So why are you suddenly friendly with Cujo?"

"He attacked Inuyasha."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "He attacked your brother so now you like him?"

"Yes. He has good sense."

"He attacked you too you know. Just this morning."

Sesshoumaru shrugged. "But he has not done so since. He went after Inuyasha with more ferocity."

Kagome snuggled farther into the couch. "Sure."

Sesshoumaru pictured the look on Inuyasha's face when Cujo attacked and decided that he liked the dog after all.


	15. I Have A Date!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I do own a new Sesshoumaru doll though thanks to my boyfriend. It will go nicely with my Sesshoumaru keychain and poster, both of which were also bought by my boyfriend. Isn't he nice? He buys me Sesshoumaru!**

**Authors Note:** Aren't I on a role? Four updates in less than a month! Whoo hoo! Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing this story. I appreciate it greatly, it helps to keep me typing! And I got more reviews for last chapter than any other chapter before it so Thanks! I hope you all enjoy reading this chapter, and I hope you can review!

And I would like to congratulate DemonDeReves for being the only reviewer to guess who Kagome's abusive ex boyfriend was!

Kagome sighed and rubbed a weary hand across her sweat dampened brow. She had somehow convinced Sango to take Cujo off her hands long enough to clean up the mess he had mad in her apartment and go to work(meaning she had bribed her with the promise of a girls night out-and Sango not paying a dime). But despite the plunge she knew her funds were going to take, she was happy to finally be able to put her apartment back into order.

Once everything was as neat and tidy as she was willing to get it (after all the dog was coming back, no sense in cleaning it completely), she donned her uniform and set out for work.

When she was only half way there, someone walked up behind her and grabbed her shoulder. "AAAHHH!" she screamed. Clutching her pocketbook tightly, she closed her eyes as she turned around and swung it with all of her might at her attackers head, opening her eyes after hearing the satisfying _thowk_ as the pocketbook connected.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?"

Kagome was silent for a moment as she tried to remember where she had heard that voice before and let out a nearly silent "Oh," when she connected the voice with the man in the baseball hat. "Sorry," she said as she reached forward to straighten him out of his bent over position. "I didn't realize it was you." Then she rethought her last statement and letting go of his arm she said, "Then again, I barely know you and you snuck up behind me so you deserved it."

"Like hell, bitch. No one deserves to be hit with that thing." He rubbed his aching temple with one hand and caught her pocketbook in the other when she tried to hit him with it again. "What do you have in there, anyway? Rocks?"

"No," she jerked her purse out of his grasp and crossed her arms over her chest. "And don't call me a bitch or I'll hit you again." She considered him in silence for a moment then asked, "Your Inuyasha, right?"

"Yeah, what of it?" he asked suspiciously.

"I was just asking."

"Why?"

"I was curious. I wanted to see if I remembered correctly is all. Do you remember my name?"

"Keh. Of course. My memory is better than yours after all."

"Why would you say that?" She asked with her hands firmly planted on her hips. _Oooh if he says its because I'm a girl, I'll brain him!_

He snorted. "Isn't it obvious? It's because I'm not a weak hum-" He cut himself off, realizing what he was about to say. She was human, she didn't know that demons exsisted. And he had almost told her!

"Are you going to finish?"

"Keh. Because my memory's just better than yours is, that's why."

Kagome's face scrunched up. "That's not what you were going to say."

"How would you know?"

"Because I know."

"No you don't."

"Yes I do!"

"No you don't!"

"Yes I do!"

"No you don't!"

"Yes I do!"

5-10 minutes later . . . .

"No you don't!"

"Yes I do!"

"No. You. Don't!"

"Yes. I. Do!"

"Alright, if you're so smart, what was I going to say?"

Kagome took a deep breath to help her cool her anger. "You were going to say human."

Inuyasha looked at her stunned for a moment before emitting a nervous laugh. "Why would I say something like that?"

Kagome looked at him with her best 'you are so stupid and obvious look'. "Because you're a demon." She gave him a piercing look for a moment and then continued. "Or rather a half demon. Aren't you?"

That question floored the hanyou. How could she be so calm about it? She was just a human and here she was standing in the middle of the street talking about demons as if it was common knowledge. What kind of girl was she?

Kagome looked down and glanced at her watch. Her eyes widened comically and she shrieked in horror. "Oh no! I'm running late now thanks to you!" She whapped him on the arm with her purse one last time before she turned and sprinted madly for the café. "And you never actually said my name so my memory _is_ better than yours!" She yelled over her shoulder.

Inuyasha was startled out of his stupor and he yelled back, "Your name's Kagome, so my memory is better!" But it was too late, she had already disappeared around the corner.

XXXXXXXXXX

"So why were you late?" asked Kagura from where she stood behind the counter.

"I was stopped on the street."

"Really?" Kagura leaned forward and Kagome noted the suggestive gleam that entered her eyes. "By a guy?"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "If you must know, it was a guy."

"Oh do tell."

So Kagome recounted the last 30 minutes of her life ending with how she tried, and failed, to sneak in to work unnoticed by the manager, and the subsequent lecture on timeliness that followed.

About an hour before closing, when everything had slowed down and everyone was counting the minutes before they could officially lock the door and go home, the bell above the door chimed signaling the arrival of a customer.

Kagome and Kagura looked at each other and came to a silent agreement. There was only one fair way to settle who had to take the customer: rock, paper, scissors. They quickly battled it out, best two out of three, while the customer found a seat. Kagome was the loser so she walked out from around the counter to greet her guest.

"Hi, my name's Kagome and I'll be your server tonight. What can I get-"she stopped and looked closer. "It's you! What are you doing here?"

"Keh, I came to see you." Said Inuyasha tugging on the brim of is cap to pull it lower.

"And why would you do that?"

"Because stupid, I never got to finish talking to you. You never let me actually talk to you. All you did was smack me with your bag full of bricks, argue with me, and run away."

Kagome blinked owlishly at him. "Oh."

"Keh." Kagome thought she might have heard him mumble "Stupid females," but let it go since she wasn't sure, and he had a nice big bruise from where her purse had hit him in the face earlier.

"So what did you want to talk to me about so badly that you would come in here and spend at least $20 for?"

Inuyasha gaped at her. "Who said I was spending $20?"

Kagome smiled a bit too sweetly at him. "Well you have to order some food, and a drink, and then of course leave a nice big tip . . . or I can have Kagura come over and be your server."

"I'm surrounded by con artists." He mumbled to himself.

"Alright give me a cheese burger and a coke."

Kagome clapped her hands together, "Coming right up!" She wrote down the order and put it in the computer. She brought him his coke and made small talk with him while they waited for his food to come out of the kitchen.

After he had finished he sat back in his seat and propped his left leg up on the chair opposite him. "So what did you want to talk to me about?" she asked.

"First I want to ask how you know my brother."

"Why would you want to know that?"

"Well, are you seeing him?"

"No."

He leaned forward and put his chin in his palms. "Are you seeing anyone else?"

"No."

"Alright that's all I wanted to know."

One of her eyebrows rose and disappeared under her bangs. "Is that all?"

"No actually." He gave her a charming smile. "I do have one more question."

"When he didn't respond immediately she asked "And that would be . . .?"

"Now's not the time to ask. When do you get off?"

Kagome looked over at the clock. "Well the store closes in about 15 minutes, and then I have to help clean up-"

"She can go now." Kagura cut in.

"What? No I can't!"

"Yes you can. I'll do all of the clean up."

Kagome looked at her uncertainly and Inuyasha could smell the unease she felt at leaving her coworker to do all the work mixed in with her own natural scent. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, consider it me paying you back for that shift you covered the other day."

"Well if you're sure . . ."

"I am." Kagura gave her a shove. "Get out of here."

"O.K." Kagome went to the back and retrieved her coat. When she came back up front, Inuyasha was waiting for her by the door. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah." She went through the door he held open for her and into the night.

Kagura watched them leave with a smirk on her face. "I think I am going to have to call Shippo. I wonder how this will affect his plan?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome wrapped her coat tighter around her and sat down on a nearby park bench. "So what did you want to ask me?"

"Well, for one, how did you know I was a half demon?" Confusion spread over his face when she laughed.

"I can sense it." When the confusion she saw in his eyes only grew, she hastened to explain. "I'm a miko."

"Oh."

"So can I ask a question too?"

"Uh, sure why not."

"What's under that hat? I've never seen you without it."

Inuyasha's ears twitched and then laid back flat to his head underneath his baseball cap. "I can't tell you that!"

"Hmph. Fine be that way."

"Can I ask you another question?"

Kagome stuck her nose in the air. "Go ahead."

"Since you aren't seeing anyone, would you want to go see a movie or something sometime?"

Kagome gave him a calculating look before she grinned in mischief. "On one condition." She brushed the image of Sesshoumaru that popped into her head aside. They weren't anything other than friends. She could go on a date if she wanted to.

"Sure, what is it?" Inuyasha asked eagerly, his ears twitching forward.

Her grin widened. "Let me see you with your hat off."

"What? No way! Wasn't it enough that you made me leave you that monster of a tip?"

"Nope."

"Come on!"

"Nope. If the hat doesn't come off, then no date."

"Alright," he grumbled reaching up and removing the hat.

"Oh. My. God." Inuyasha's ears laid back flat. He was sure she would scream in fear now. "Those are so cute!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Sango paced back and forth across the floor of her dorm as Cujo watched with his head on his paws. "Where is she? She should be here by now!" She glared at the dog like it was his fault that Kagome was late. "She's probably taking her sweet time getting here so that she doesn't have to deal with you."

Her ranting and pacing was interrupted by a knock at the door. She looked through the peep hole and then swung the door open when she saw that it was her missing friend.

"And just where have you been?" She asked not unlike a mother scolding her unruly teenager.

"I," Kagome said as she hung up her coat and patted the dog on the head. "Was busy being asked on a date."

Sango's eyes widened and she sat down heavily on the couch. "Really? By that Sesshoumaru guy?"

Kagome sat down beside her and shook her head. "Nope."

"By who?"

"By his half brother Inuyasha."

Sango squealed in delight. "Did you say yes?"

"Yep." She scratched Cujo behind the ears and watched as his eyes rolled to the back of his head in pure doggie bliss.

"Is he cute?"

"Yep."

"As Greek God like as his brother?"

"No, but still pretty God-like."

"But what about his brother?"

"What about him?"

"Don't you like him?"

Kagome was silent for a minute.

"Kagome?"

"I don't know Sango. I don't know for sure if I like him, but I'm positive he doesn't see me as anything other than a friend, so why should I not go out? Who knows, his brother might be Mister Right.

"That reminds me." Sango said to get her friend out of her melancholy thoughts.

"What?"

Sango took a deep breath and said in a rush, "I ran into this really cute guy the other day, and he was a complete gentlemen, well he was until he groped me anyway, so I smacked him, and then he asked me out, and I said yes-"

"You said yes?"

"Uh huh."

You know what this means don't you?" Kagome asked nodding her head.

Sango nodded.

"We both have dates!" They squealed in unison.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru let out an irritated growl when his phone rang. He looked at the number before he answered it. "What is it Miroku?"

"Well, I just wanted to tell you that I have a date for this Friday."

"You managed to keep your hands to yourself long enough to get a girl to agree to be seen in public with you?"

"Nope."

"You groped her and she still agreed?"

"Yep. I said it was the least she could do after almost running me over."

"She must be incredibly stupid."

"I resent that."

"Resent away."

"Oh, and I have some other interesting news. Inuyasha has a date as well."

"I know this girl must be mentally unstable."

"Be nice."

"Why else would she agree to date the moron?"

"Sesshoumaru, he is your brother." Miroku adomonished.

"Half brother."

"He is still a blood relation."

"Thank you for reminding me. I must go now." And without waiting for a reply he hung up the phone.

"Who would agree to date Inuyasha?" he asked himself. And then he remembered that his brother had been trying to get Kagome to agree to a date . . . .

"I'm going to kill him." He growled.


	16. Don't Be Late!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I do own many things that have Sesshoumar on them, or that are a likeness, but sadly, not him.**

**Authors Note:** I hope everyone enjoys this next installment.Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews, and please feel free to leave some more!

Kagome fluffed her hair one last time before turning from her room and heading into the living room of her apartment. Inuyasha was supposed to pick her up in a few minutes and then they were going to meet his roommate and his roommate's date at the restaurant. She sat on her couch and slipped on the black strappy shoes that Sango had helped her pick out

Sango had come over a few hours before and they had helped each other to coordinate their outfits, hair, and makeup for their dates. Then she had left so she could (hopefully) arrive a few minutes before her date (she hated to be last to show). Sango was going to meet her date at the local park and then they were walking to the restaurant to meet the people they were doubling with. Both girls found it hilarious that they both had dates, and both were double dates.

It occurred to neither that they could be doubling with each other. That would be too much of a coincidence. Kagome didn't know which restaurant Inuyasha was taking her to, and Sango had said she was going to Ichiban. Finished with her shoes, Kagome sank back into her couch to wait for her date.

Kagome had just decided that she should go check her outfit again when there was a knock at her door. She glanced at her clock and smiled in approval-her date was right on time. She sauntered over the door and opened it without bothering to look through the peep hole.

"Hi. Wow, you look great!"

Kagome smoothed down her hair in a nervous habit. "Thanks. What are you doing here Shippo? I thought you weren't going to be back until tomorrow."

"Well, business ended sooner than expected. Why are you all dolled up?" He asked. After all, she didn't know that Kagura had called and told him of her date with Inuyasha. He couldn't help but be amused when her ears turned pink.

"Well," she began. "I'm going on a date."

"Oh? With who? That Sesshoumaru guy?"

She cleared her throat. "Actually it's with his half brother."

Shippo hid his grin with his hand under the guise of coughing into it. The blush had spread to her cheeks. She was just too fun to tease. He crinkled his brow to appear concerned. "But what about Sesshoumaru? I thought you liked him."

Kagome threw her hands up in frustration. "Why does everyone keep saying that?" She glared at Shippo for a minute before her shoulders sagged. She moved to the side giving Shippo enough room to pass through the threshold. "Why don't you come in and I'll fix you a cup of tea to drink until my date gets here? He's late anyway."

Shippo's brow crinkled for real this time. "He's late?"

Kagome nodded her head. "Yeah, it's strange too. He's the one that picked the time." She reached up and pulled her teapot out from the cabinet above the stove. "I

wonder what's holding him up?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Inuyasha mentally congratulated himself and figuratively patted himself on the back. He was leaving with enough time to get to Kagome's apartment early. After all, it could only help to get in her good graces right?

Miroku had already left to go meet his date in the park and walk her to the restaurant. He hadn't told Kagome where they were going because he had wanted to surprise her. Ichiban was a highly prestigious place and he hoped that it would impress her that he had gotten a table at such a place. He was putting his shoes on when there was a knock at the door. He rolled his eyes in annoyance, it would figure someone would come to see him when he was on his way out. He didn't bother to look through the peep hole-if it was a burglar would they be knocking? (And if it was, he was strong enough to beat the crap out of them anyway).

He shuffled over to the door and as soon as he turned the knob the door was shoved open to smash into his face. "Ow!" Inuyasha grabbed his throbbing nose and glared at the offender on the other side of the door. "What are you doing here you doing here you bastard?"

Sesshoumaru cocked his head to the side and ignored the question. He surveyed Inuyasha's outfit and then let his lip curl up in disdain. "You look as if you were trying to dress up. Were you going somewhere?"

Inuyasha fisted one hand at his side, the other still rubbing at his abused nose. "Not that it's any of your damn business, but I'm going on a date." He cracked his knuckles. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Sesshoumaru shouldered past him and into the living room. "And who are you going on a date with?"

Inuyasha's glare increased tenfold as he watched him pass. "I'm doubling with Miroku and his date."

Sesshoumaru sat on the couch. "I was asking who you were taking on your date, half wit."

Inuyasha smirked basking in the fact that what he was about to say would cause his brother a lot of irritation. "That girl from the café, Kagome." His smirk widened as Sesshoumaru's expression darkened. "And she knows I'm a hanyou, and she doesn't care. You hear that? She. Doesn't. Care." He crossed his arms over his chest and mumbled, "Unlike some pricks I know."

"Why so interested in her Inuyasha?"

"Why do you care?

Sesshoumaru cast him an icy look that could have given the devil a chill. "Does it matter? I told you to stay away from her."

"Yeah, well I didn't. I asked her out because she's pretty, and she was fun to argue with. And she said yes. So if you'll excuse me, I am now running late for my date. So as you know, my door is always open. Feel free to leave at anytime. Bye."

And for the first time in his life he turned away from a conflict with his brother without starting a fist fight.

Unfortunately, it seemed that was what Sesshoumaru wanted. Before his brother was even half way out the door, he grabbed his arm, swung him around and punched him square in his already aching nose. Then he stalked out and down the hall way leaving Inuyasha to tend to his bleeding nose. As the elevator doors closed he could hear him shout, "YOU ARE SUCH A BASTARD SESSHOUMARU!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome waved good bye to Shippo and Cujo from her doorway and watched until they disappeared around the corner. She wasn't sure if she was going to be lonely now that Cujo was leaving, but she knew that she was happy that she no longer had to replace her chewed up belongings (her hair drier, curling iron, all her houseplants . . .).

She had given Shippo the last 3 cans of ravioli in her pantry as a parting gift. She didn't really like the stuff (it had entirely too many calories for canned food) and besides, Shippo needed it more than she did. She closed the door and looked up at her clock on the wall. Inuyasha was 30 minutes late. She sighed and rubbed her forehead between her eyes. She figured she had officially been stood up.

She had just finished unstraping both of her shoes when someone knocked on her door. She toddled over and this time she looked through the peephole. She scowled at who she saw. She opened the door and glared at the person on the other side. "You're late."

"Sorry?"

She arched an eyebrow. "You aren't going to offer any excuses?"

"I had some unexpected company stop by right before I was going to leave. Sorry."

She eyed him speculatively. "I can accept that." She grabbed her coat. "Let's go."

XXXXXXXXXX

Sango rapped her freshly manicured nails against the table top. So far her date was a disaster. As soon as they had met at the park he had given her a hug. That wasn't so bad except he had then slid his hands down her back until he reached her rear. Then he had squeezed it and asked her to bare him a child. To make it even worse, when she had slapped him an old couple had seen and started yelling at her about abuse. Then to put the icing on the cake his roommate and his date were late.

She plucked at a piece of lent that was stuck to her dress. Things could only get better right?

She started when Miroku suddenly stood up. She stood and turned to let him introduce her to his roommate. When she turned around she couldn't stop herself from squealing in delight. "Oh my God! Kagome! What are you doing here?"

There stood her best friend with who she assumed was Miroku's roommate. Wow, he was a bit of a Greek God. But then again, so was Miroku, complete with the vice of lechery.

Miroku and Inuyasaha blinked in surprise, Inuyasha was the first to get over his shock and spoke. "You two know each other?" he asked pointing his finger and wagging it between the two girls.

Sango and Kagome finished hugging each other and jumping up and down. "Yep, this is my best friend Sango." She said keeping one of her arms around the other girl's shoulders.

"And this is my best friend Kagome."

The two boys looked at each other and then looked at the girls. "Is that why you're dressed alike?"

The two were wearing Chinese styled dresses with high collars held together by buttons and ribbons at the top. They ended mid calf and had a split up both sides to the hip. It wasn't immodest however as they each had a black body suit with built in shorts that went to just above the knees underneath. Kagome's dress was a maroon color and Sango's was a nice shade of pink.

"Well I must say," said Miroku, "that you both look extremely lovely."

Inuyasha blushed and stammered, "Yeah, you look great." He ducked his head and mumbled, "Sorry that I didn't say it earlier."

Kagome smiled warmly at his down turned head and clapped her hands together. "So what are we waiting for? I'm starving!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome hummed to herself as she pulled the hairpins out of her bun. She gathered them into a pile and set them beside the floral patterned soap dish in her

bathroom when her phone rang. "I'm coming hold your horses."

"Hello?"

"Hey Kagome! So what do you think? Should I go out with him again?"

Kagome laughed. "I don't know, do you like him?"

Sango hesitated on the other line. "Aside from his more lecherous tendencies, yes, I do."

"Then go out with him again. Although I think I should tell you something first."

"What is it?" She sounded mildly concerned.

"He's the one that asked me to bare his child at the café."

"Really? I should have known. When I met him in the park he hugged me, groped me, and then asked me to bare his child. That should have tipped me off. So what about you? Do you think you want to see Inuyasha again?"

Kagome paced in front of her bedroom window and chewed on one of her nails a minute before answering. "I don't know."

"Didn't you like him?"

"Well yeah, he's fun, a little bit of a loud mouth, but sweet. I think he might be a little shy too. And he is a hottie."

"So what's the problem, aside from the fact that he wore a baseball hat in one of the best restaurants in Tokyo?"

"I can't help but feel that I'm betraying Sesshoumaru. Which is silly since I don't even know if I like him, but I know Sesshoumaru doesn't like his brother, so I feel bad to go on a date with him."

"You said it yourself that you aren't dating him, so you have no reason to feel bad about going on a date with his brother. Sleep on it. You don't have to become official or anything. Just go on a couple of dates with him."

"Thanks Sango. You should start a column in the school newspaper or something."

Sango effected a dramatic and all knowing sigh. "You're right. I should."

Then they both laughed until it hurt and decided that they needed to get their beauty rest.

Kagome had just finished putting on her pajamas and was preparing to snuggle into her covers when her phone rang again. "Argh. Who is it now? And why are they calling me this late?" She grumbled.

Reaching over to her bedside table she took the phone out of the cradle and watched as the numbers lighted up an erie pale green in the dark before shrugging off her dark thoughts and punching the on button. "Hello?"

Upon hearing the reply she felt her blood turn to ice and the phone slipped through her fingers to land with a dull thud on the carpet, the buttons casting their strange glow onto the floor. She sat there not moving until she finally curled up and went to sleep out of exhaustion, the words playing over and over in her head: "Hello Kagome."


	17. The Smell of Fear

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.**

**Authors Note: **Sorry everyone, I am having the most awful time uploading these chapters! I have messed up 5 times between the Sailor Moon story and this story! ARGHHHH! Sorry again, I hope you enjoy this chapter it is the correct one I promise! Read and Review!

Kagome sat up and ground her palms into her bleary eyes in an effort to feel more awake. Throwing off the covers she swung her legs over the side of the bed and started to stand up before the memory of the night before hit her full force and she sank back with a dull thump and clutched the covers closer. She felt her blood run cold when she saw that the phone-the same phone that she had dropped onto the floor the night before and that she had most certainly _not_ picked back up-was sitting in its cradle on her bedside table.

She felt hysteria start to rise when she realized that she had thrown covers off when attempting to get out of bed. She was holding those covers. She lowered her gaze to them and felt her stomach drop along with the throw blanket that fell from suddenly limp hands. The bright print blurred before her eyes and her breaths began to come out in heavy pants. She realized distantly that she was starting to have a panic attack, but couldn't stop it. The throw blanket that she had just let slip to the floor was the same one that she kept in her hallway closet. She hadn't brought it into her room the night before. And she hadn't covered herself with it. And the phone had been hung up.

She heard a faint noise coming from her kitchen and tried to quickly compose herself. There was someone in her apartment, and knowing that _he_ had called the night before it could only mean trouble.

Taking a few deep calming breaths that didn't really incite any calm feelings; she made a quick pass of her room in search of a weapon. The most promising thing she found was her curling iron and that was only because it could reach high temperatures, if of course the crazy guy in her house would give her a few minutes to let it heat up.

An almost hysterical laugh bubbled up in her throat and if she hadn't felt that it would be detrimental to her health to make loud noises she would have let it come out. If only to release some of the tension she felt welling up inside of her. Disregarding the previous thoughts of the curling iron, she settled on the plunger. It was an older one that had a wooden handle. She could swing it like a bat if need be and make a break for it.

Grasping the handle so hard that her knuckles turned white from the pressure, she tiptoed as quietly as she could to the door and pressed her ear against the wood, ears straining to catch a sound.

She heard some pots clanging and briefly wondered what he would be doing in her kitchen, but let it slide since his preoccupation with her kitchen ware was going to give her the chance to escape. She opened the door and held her breath, heart in her throat, when the hinges made a small creaking sound. When the noises from the kitchen didn't abate she hesitantly began to creep forward.

Just as she was going past the kitchen someone came out. Screaming in fright she closed her eyes and swung the plunger with all of her might, dropping it and running for the door when she heard it make impact.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sango watched Shippo as he sat deep in thought, a small frown marring his normally youthful appearance. She rolled her eyes; he always had been overly dramatic. He had called her very early this morning demanding that she meet him for lunch because he had an urgent matter that he absolutely had to discuss with her. And all he had done since she got there was frown and think. That just wasn't how things worked in Sango's universe. Reaching across the table she whapped him none to gently upside the head.

"Earth to Shippo, I didn't come here this early in the morning just to sit you know."

Shippo glowered half-heartedly at her as he rubbed his abused cranium. "It doesn't mean you have to get all violent on me." He mumbled.

Sango's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What was that?" asked the sleep deprived woman.

"Nothing," Shippo assured waving both of his hands in front of him in what he hoped was a placating gesture.

Sango let it slide in favor of finding out why she had been rudely awakened by the shrill sound of her telephone. "So, care to share what was so important?"

"When you told me about your date last night, you said Miroku's roommate was

Kagome's date right?"

Sango nodded not understanding why this was important enough that she had to lose sleep for it. "That's right," she said slowly.

"And Kagome's date was Inuyasha, right?"

"Right."

"And Inuyasha is Sesshoumaru's brother, right?"

"Yeah." She still failed to see where this conversation was going.

"Cool. Now I just need to know one more thing."

"What?" She asked in annoyance.

"Where do Miroku and Inuyasha live?"

Sango just reached over and hit him again, taking enjoyment in his yelp of pain and laughing outright when he fell from his chair onto the floor.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru stuffed his hands in his pockets as he stalked down the streets, somehow making the normally slacker type gesture seem the epitome of dignity and grace. He was in a foul mood. His father had called earlier to berate him for smashing his fist into Inuyasha's face-coincidently the memory of the action being the only thing keeping him from lashing out at unsuspecting passerby-and had decided that he, Sesshoumaru should call the twerp and apologize for causing him bodily harm.

Screw that. He didn't care what his father said. In his mind Inuyasha was deserving of what had happened. In fact, he hoped that it hadn't healed by the time the date had started. He had been kind enough to warn the half breed to stay away after all. It was his own fault that he didn't listen and he had paid the consequences of his actions.

Unknowing in his fury he went to the café, subconsciously wishing to see Kagome, perhaps hoping that she would regal him with the tale of how awful her date with his brother and his supposed friend (the one that hadn't told him Inuyasha had asked Kagome out) had been.

He looked up in slight surprise when he heard the chiming of a bell and saw that he had walked into the café without even meaning to. He decided that since he was already there, he might as well get something to eat. He found a table near the back and looked around for Kagome, he didn't see her, but Kagura came over and asked him what he wanted to drink.

"Where is Kagome?" he asked as she scribbled his order on her pad of paper.

Kagura smirked and Sesshoumaru thought he saw a flash of fangs. "Today's her day off. Do you need me to give her a message?"

"That will not be necessary."

Kagura winked at him. "Here's your tab." She slid a piece of paper across the table, turned and walked back towards the kitchen. "You had better leave a good tip or I'll come after your ass."

Sesshoumaru snorted. _As if someone as weak as her could harm me._ He put two fingers on the paper and slid it to the edge before picking it up and looking at it. His eyes widened. Scrawled across the paper was a phone number and address, name written at the top.

A smirk bloomed across his face and an old lady that happened to be looking at him had to reach for an inhaler to keep her asthma attack at bay. But Sesshoumaru didn't notice, he only had one thought running through his mind: _Excellent._

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome yelped as her ankle was grabbed and she was dragged to the floor. Her hands scrabbled for purchase on the carpet, but she couldn't get a grip and was dragged inexorably closer to the man behind her. In a desperate bid for freedom she twisted around onto her back and lashed out with her foot kicking the intruder in the arm.

When her captor let go she rolled back over and got to her feet before freezing when the image of what she had seen finally made its way to her brain. Whirling around she screamed, "Souta, you little freak! What the HELL do you think you're doing!"

Souta just muttered incoherently while clutching his bruised arm to his chest and glaring daggers at his sister.

"Answer me twerp! You scared the crap out of me! How did you get in my apartment?"

Souta stood and got a dishtowel from one of the drawers in the kitchen and filled it with ice before commenting. "Jeez Kagome, try to break my arm why don't you?"

"You'd have deserved it for scaring me like that!"

"Why did it scare you?"

"Because, I woke up and the phone had moved and I was covered with a blanket, and there were noises coming from my kitchen! I thought that-" She cut herself off before she blurted out something that would worry her brother. Composing herself, she started again. "I thought that there was a burgular."

Her brother narrowed his eyes. "Why would a burgular cover you up? Why would you have gotten so scared? I've borrowed mom's spare key before and covered you up before. Why was this time so different?"

Before she could answer the phone rang and his suspicion sky rocketed when he saw the trepidation in her eyes. Swallowing nervously she went over to the non-cordless phone she had hanging to the wall between her kitchen and living room. "Hello?"

"Hello Kagome dear."

Kagome almost sagged against the wall in her relief. "Hello Momma."

"I just wanted to let you know that after your brother gets done running some errands, he's going to be stopping by."

"Thanks Momma, but he's already here." She twirled the cord between her fingers.

"Really? He must have decided to do the errands after visiting with you."

"Thanks for the heads up."

"Your welcome dear." They disconnected.

"Kagome," Souta said starting towards his sister. "What really had you so scared?" He put a comforting arm around her shoulder and led her over to the couch.

Kagome let her self be guided and sat down soaking up the comfort that her brother was so willing to provide. They may not always get along, but when push came to shove, they cared for each other and would protect the other with all they had.

"I got a call late last night. That's why the phone was on the ground." Souta felt fear rising in him when his older sister turned haunted eyes to him. "He's back." She whispered. "Naraku's back."

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru glanced from the piece of paper in his hand to the numbers on the door in front of him. This was the place. He raised his right hand and knocked. "Who is it?" asked a muffled female voice from within.

"Sesshoumaru."

"Sesshoumaru?" the voice sounded faintly puzzled. "Come in."

Turning the knob and swinging the door open, Sesshoumaru took in the scene before him. At least he knew why her voice had been muffled. There was Kagome on the couch, a boy perhaps a few years younger than her holding her with her face pressed against his shoulder.

He felt an unknown emotion that he thought felt a bit like jealousy (but that was impossible because Sesshoumaru did not get jealous) rise in the pit of his stomach, before his nose registered something. The scent of fear premated the small room. Kagome's fear. Looking around he saw a plunger lying discarded on the floor that had been almost completely broken in half.

His hackles rose when he came to the conclusion that the boy had attacked her, disregarding the fact that she seemed comfortable enough now and wasn't acting afraid. He could smell her fear. This boy would tell him what he had been doing and then he would die.

Within the blink of an eye he was across the room and had the boy by the throat. He knew his eyes were bleeding red but he didn't care. "What have you done?" His voice came out in a guttural growl.

The boy stammered, unable to form a response in face of his fear. _Good._ Sesshoumaru thought, relishing in his fear. _Let the boy experience the fear I smelt coming off the girl in waves._

Kagome, sat stunned for a minute before realizing that if she didn't do something soon she could very well watch her baby brother be murdered by one of her friends. She jumped off the couch and put both hands on the arm that was holding her brother. "Please, Sesshoumaru. It's okay. This is my brother." She didn't know what had him so angry, but Souta was in no way to blame. "He hasn't done anything to me."

Sesshoumaru turned completely red eyes to her. "I smell your fear. This boy is the cause."

"No, no he isn't. He's my brother. I was just- he was comforting me. I was scared an he was making me feel better."

Sesshoumaru lowered his hand until the boy's feet touched the floor. "He did not cause your fear?"

"No he didn't."

Sesshoumaru let go of the boy's throat and watched dispassionately as he gasped for air. "What did?"

Kagome swallowed nervously. "Well, I, um, I don't feel like telling you. It's personal."

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed. She would tell him what had caused her fear and he _would_ remove it. By any means necessary.


	18. Finding the Truth

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of its characters. I recaptured Sesshoumaru though and had Totosai reinforce his shackles so that Sesshoumaru's poison couldn't melt through them this time.**

**Authors Note: **I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. Hopefully it takes a step in the right direction for Sesshoumaru and Kagome's relationship. This could be my last update for a couple of weeks, as I am going out of town this weekend and my birthday is the next weekend. I might end up too busy to think up new ideas. But then again, I'll probably get new ideas from my friends. So without further chit chat, here is the next installment!

Kagome crossed her arms over her chest in defiance. She knew that look. He was trying to intimidate her. Well he had another thing coming, because she refused to let him bully her into telling him about her personal life. She tossed Sesshoumaru a dirty look and knelt down beside her brother. She felt sorry for him. First she whacks him with the plunger hard enough to break the handle, and then Sesshoumaru comes in and starts to strangle him to death. She winced in sympathy when she saw the small trickle of blood coming from his temple. Great, now she felt guilty on top of everything else. She wiped her hand gently over the cut grimacing when all it did was smear the blood.

Sesshoumaru felt his mood darken as the minutes went by, after refusing to tell him what had scared her so badly that the room reeked of her fear, she had glared at him and crouched beside her brother and promptly began to ignore him. He hated being ignored. He looked on in interest when she wiped at a cut on the whelps forehead. He hadn't done that. When had the boy gotten cut? He covertly looked around the room and his eyes landed on the forgotten plunger. Had they been attacked?

"Kagome," he tried again, lowering his voice. "Tell me what scared you. Please."

Souta tried not to laugh when his sister's draw noticeably dropped. "Close your mouth sis. You'll catch flies." He whispered.

Her mouth snapped closed with an audible click. Had Sesshoumaru just said _please_? To _her_? And was that concern that she heard? Her eyes softened. When he asked like _that_ it seemed rude not to tell him. Or at least not to tell him something.

She sighed deeply. "Alright I'll tell you. But first I need you to go to the kitchen and get me a wet washcloth for Souta's head." She cut off Souta's protests about not being a baby before they had really began. "He has a cut that needs to be looked at."

Sesshoumaru nodded and went to do as she asked. If it got him the answers to his questions, he would do it. As long as his father never heard about it. Then he would never hear the end of it. Finding the required item, he ran it under some water from the faucet and rung it out so that it no longer dripped water.

Kagome nodded gratefully at him when he came back and handed her the washcloth. "Souta, are you okay? I don't think it needs stitches or anything, but you could have a concussion. I hit you pretty hard."

Sesshoumaru quirked an eyebrow. She had hit him?

"I'm okay sis. Your batting arm sucks."

"Hey!" She smacked him in the arm.

"Ow!" he shrieked. "That hurts!"

Kagome snorted. "And you said my arm sucks."

"Yeah well, you just got through kicking this arm and I never said you couldn't kick." He muttered sullenly rubbing his arm tenderly.

"Sorry Souta. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Get over it Kagome. You can't hurt me."

"Tell that to the cut on your head and the bruise on your arm." She said drily. "Go run your errands and tell mom," she paused considering her words. "Tell mom that everything's fine."

Souta took his sister by the arm and lead her over to the door. "What about . . .?"

Kagome shook her head. "Don't worry, I'll figure something out." She gave him a brief hug. "And tell her that you fell or something if she asks about your head. I don't want her asking why I would hit you with a plunger."

"She wouldn't believe that. I'm not clumsy like you."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Then tell her you crashed on your skateboard. That's how you got here isn't it?"

"Alright already." He turned to go out the door.

"Oh and Souta?"

"Yeah?"

She shoved a band aid into his hands. "Put this on your head."

"No way!" he said before closing the door.

Kagome sighed and put her forehead to the door. She took a deep breath and turned to Sesshoumaru. "So I guess this means it's time for me to explain some things huh?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Shippo eyed the phone in front of him with a warily. This was the moment of truth. The outcome of this phone call could either make or break his plans for Kagome. He picked up the phone and listened to the dial tone for a moment before punching in the numbers.

Someone picked up on the third ring. "Hello?"

"Hi, this is Shippo Suzako, and I need to speak to Mr. Motosuwa." He smiled when he heard the "Hello," that signified he had gotten who he wanted. "Hi. I have a plan that might interest you."

XXXXXXXXXX

Naraku scowled up at the window across the street. He could see another man in her living room. And it wasn't her brother. This one had long silver hair and if he concentrated he could feel the youki he was exuding. This was not how it was supposed to be.

She should be cowering in fear like the night before. He grinned maliciously. It had only taken two words for her eyes to grow wide in fear and he imagined to himself that he had heard her heart stop for a moment due to the absolute terror he had seen her gaze. That was how it was supposed to be. She would belong to him and she would fear and respect him.

He glowered once more at her through her window, then turned and walked away. All the while his brain sifted through ideas, keeping some in mind and completely disregarding others, trying to find how to get rid of the new . . . complication.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru noticed how Kagome's hands shook as she prepared the tea she had insisted on making before telling him why she had been afraid, claiming that 'it would be impolite not to'. He knew she was stalling, but let it go. She was obviously preparing herself for the story she was going to tell. He would let her have a few moments, then he would get his answers.

Kagome tried to find something, anything to talk about other than what he wanted to know. She could think of nothing save small talk. She shrugged in her mind. It was worth a shot. "So, ah, what about that weather we're having?" He said nothing so she continued on while bustling about getting her teacups. "It's nice isn't it? I mean there isn't a cloud for miles . . .". She trailed off for a moment before shaking her head and pouring the tea. "It's perfect weather for a walk or for just going out and sitting." She sat a teacup in front of Sesshoumaru and placed the teapot between them on the table on a pot holder plastered with smiling pumpkins.

"Kagome." He cut her off when it seemed she would go on. "Tell me what has happened."

She took a deep fortifying breath. "It started in high school. I was dating a guy named Naraku Hibiya, and everything seemed to be going great. Sango didn't like him and thought he was creepy, but I didn't listen. I thought he was mysterious and charming. And at first he was really sweet. But then gradually he changed." Some tea sloshed onto the table when her hand shook. "He started to get angry at little things, things that weren't my fault became my fault. If he was stuck in traffic it was because I some how made him leave late. Things like that." Her voice had become a whisper then trailed off completely as she was lost in her memories.

"And then what happened, Kagome?"

She shook her head. "He started to get violent."

Sesshoumaru felt a white hot anger begin to boil through his veins. Kagome didn't deserve that. He thought she was annoying and she was human, but she was kind, she didn't care that his brother was a half breed, whereas most would despise him for being of mixed blood; the humans for his demon half and the demons for his mortal half. She was brave, knowing what he was and not being afraid to speak her mind when humans and demons alike trembled in his presence. Quelling his anger as best he could he said, "Continue."

"One day he got really angry," she averted her eyes and stared at the table. "He put me in the hospital for awhile and I was out of school until the bruises faded. I was only in the hospital over night, and it was the weekend, so Sango didn't know anything was wrong until she came over to invite me to the mall. Shippo came after I missed a few days of school. That night he hunted him down fought him until the crowd pulled them apart."

Sesshoumaru felt his respect for the kitsune go up a few notches. He protected his own.

"I got a restraining order and he wasn't allowed within 500 feet of me or any of the places that I frequented like school and my house. I haven't heard from him since he was convicted of assault. Then last night I was getting ready for bed and the phone rang. It was him. I dropped the phone and sat on my bed until I fell asleep."

"And what happened to your brother?" he questioned gently and in an uncharacteristic show of tenderness placed his hand over hers.

"When I woke up this morning my phone was on the hook and a throw blanket was covering me. I panicked. I th-thought it was him. I thought he had been in my apartment." Sesshoumaru bit his tongue to keep from cursing when he saw the haunted look in her eyes. "Then I heard a noise coming from the kitchen. I thought he was still here. I looked around my room for a weapon and found the plunger. I tried to sneak past it to the door but I saw someone coming at me so I swung it at him and ran for it. They grabbed my ankle and pulled me to the floor. I kicked him. That's when I realized that it was Souta. We were talking about it when you came in."

She looked up at him for the first time since beginning her story. He could feel the suspicion oozing out of her. "How did you know where I lived anyway?" She focused on that mystery instead of her memories. It was easier to be curious and possibly angry (depending on his answer). "I don't remember giving you my address."

"W-Well," Sesshoumaru was disgusted with himself. Had he just stuttered because of a mortal woman? "I went to the café this morning to see you-"

"You came to see me?" Her face brightened and the lingering scent of remembered fear vanished.

"Yes."

"That's sweet Sesshoumaru." She touched his arm and Sesshoumaru had a hard time articulating what he was saying. He couldn't get his mind passed the feel of her hand on his arm. _What were they talking about again_? "But that still doesn't tell me how you got my address."

_Oh, right, the address._ "Kagura gave it to me."

He shied away when he was smacked in the arm unexpectedly. "You asked Kagura for my address? Why didn't you just ask me when I was at your place the other night with Cujo?"

Sesshoumaru blinked having just noticed the large dog's absence. "Where is . . . Cujo?" he asked pausing before saying the name, obviously having another in mind.

"Shippo came and picked him up last night. Now stop changing the subject!"

"I didn't ask, she just wrote it down and gave it to me."

"Hmmm, I'm going to have to talk to her about giving my address to random people."

Sesshoumaru tightened his grip on the hand he still held over the table and tilted his head to the side. "But I'm not a random person, nor am I a stranger. Am I Kagome?" He leaned closer across the table.

Kagome swallowed nervously. Was it just her or was it getting hot in there? Maybe she should open a window or something . . .

"Do you think me a stranger Kagome?"

"N-no of course not. She stuttered.

"Am I a friend?" He asked looking at her intently.

Kagome tried to form a coherent response and still look him in the eye. "Of course, you're a friend."

"Good. Because I want you to know something."

"Yes?" she asked, surprised when it came out rather breathy.

"I protect my friends."

Kagome noted rather distantly that they had gotten a lot closer during their conversation and that she still had a hand on his arm. Her other hand was still trapped beneath his on the table. "What if I don't need protection?"

"What if you do?"

There was barely any space left between them now and Kagome felt her eyes slip shut.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Kagome jumped up as though she had been shocked. "Who's there?"

"Kagome, open the damn door! I just talked to Souta! Hey! I said open the d-"

"What is it Shippo?" Kagome asked cutting him off mid tirade by opening the door.

Shippo scowled at her taking note of her dazed expression. "Don't get that tone with me. I just talked to Souta and he told me what happened." He looked over to her kitchen when he heard the scraping of a chair across linoleum. "What's he doing here?"

"Kagura gave him my address." She said drily.

"Oh." Then as an after thought, "You're going to have to talk to her about that."

"Yes oh." She ignored his last statement. "Can I help you with something? You were banging and shouting loud enough the neighbors probably heard you."

"Will you let me in?" He ran a hand through his bangs. "We need to talk."

"Sure." She let the door swing shut behind him.


	19. To be Protected You Must be Over Ruled

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha the tv series or the manga. I dognapped Sesshoumaru and reinforced his chains so that he couldn't melt them again but I didn't count on his strength. I went to the store and he had broken them in half. I will have to fix them again . . . . .**

**Authors Note:** Ok, so I was supposed to take a break from this story and type up the sequel to The Chair (which I have started on-its just not finished) but this wouldn't leave me alone until I typed it up. Blame my muse. Or give her a gift since the chapter came earlier than I planned. Either way. Although if you feel like giving a gift I, I mean she likes strawberry pocky. Or chocolate pocky. Or any pocky really . . . .

Sesshoumaru watched with veiled interest as Kagome shut the door and then turned to the kitsune with her hands on her hips. "Souta called you?"

Shippo watched her warily, recognizing her body language for what it was: a warning. "Yes he did."

"What are you my keeper?" She held up her hand to silence him when he made to speak. "What did he do? Call you as soon as he walked out the door?" He opened his mouth but she silenced him with a look. Sesshoumaru was thoroughly enjoying himself. "And you came straight here right? You are not my keeper and neither is my brother. I don't need you to coddle me. I can handle the situation. Couldn't you have waited for me to call you?"

Finally given his opportunity to speak, Shippo used it to his advantage. "Hold up missy. I was there last time. I saw what he did to you. I have the pictures if you want a reminder. Don't tell me not to worry when that psycho called you and scared you so badly you would try to bludgeon your little brother to death when usually you bludgeon other people for messing with him. I was there. I _saw_ what he did to you. You can't keep me from worrying." His voice trailed off in a whisper. "You can't be mad at us for worrying about you. Especially your brother. He was doing what he thought was best."

Kagome sighed and her shoulders drooped. "I guess you're right."

Shippo puffed up his chest. "Of course I'm right. I'm a kitsune."

Kagome rolled her eyes and Sesshoumaru stiffened in his chair. He turned to Kagome when she didn't seem surprised that her friend was a demon. Shippo had led him to believe that she didn't know. He remembered their conversation in the library clearly:

_Shippo watched Kagome until she disappeared from sight, a soft look in his eyes. Turning, he gave Sesshoumaru a cool glare, all signs of softness gone from his eyes. "Does she know that you are an Inuyoukai?"_

_One of Sesshoumaru's eyebrows rose and disappeared beneath his bangs. "Does she know that you are a kitsune?"_

_Shippo grinned. "Fair enough."_

Of course he had also said that 'the kitsune was out of the bag' when he had found out that she could sense youkai. But he hadn't known that he had told her what type of youkai he was. It shouldn't surprise him though, they were very good friends.

"When did he tell you?"

Kagome looked at him in confusion. "Tell me what?"

"That he was a kitune."

"He told me the day after graduation."

Shippo kept the nervous laughter that was threatening to bubble out of him silent through sheer will, although anyone would be nervous with the glare that the inu youkai was giving him.

"You deceived this Sesshoumaru."

Shippo let out an audible gulp when he realized Sesshoumaru was no longer in his chair at the table. He took a hesitant step back to put some much needed distance between himself and the very angry demon that was now standing in front of him. "I did no such thing. I told you she couldn't sense youkai in high school and that she didn't know I was one. That was the truth. I told her after she had graduated."

"You implied that she did not know what you were."

He held up his hand and waved his pointer finger. "Ah ah ah. But implying something and actually saying it are two different things. So technically, I never lied to you. So you can't kill me."

"I tire of your kitsune tricks."

Kagome looked confusedly between the two of them. "Did I miss something?"

Both of the youkai in her living room looked at her and said "Don't worry about it."

Kagome laughed, "Now that is scary!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Inuyasha stared pensively (a feat his brother would claim impossible) at the wall in front of him. He couldn't stop thinking about the phone call he had gotten about Kagome earlier. Some guy named Shippo, supposedly one of Kagome's friends, had called and spoke with him about a plan . . . . the whole thing was giving him a headache. He didn't know if he should listen to the guy or not.

He could already tell that he liked the girl a lot, and that he wanted her to be happy. Even if he had only been on one date with her, he could tell that she was really nice and that she deserved to have someone take care of her. He wasn't sure what to do.

Should he do as the Shippo guy asked? Or should he do what he wanted to do?

He went to the closet and got a jacket. He needed a good run to clear his mind. Then he could think about it some more.

XXXXXXXXXX

Miroku was having a good time sitting with Sango watching a movie on her couch. The movie was a romantic comedy and he found it to be both romantic and funny. The only problem was that he found himself to be slightly . . . . . . . distracted. Sango was wearing a pair of black shorts and a spaghetti strapped shirt. If that wasn't enough cause for distraction he didn't know what was.

But that wasn't what was causing his distraction. Oh no. It was that she was sitting on the edge of the couch, apparently very into the movie, and she was in the exactly right position that would enable him to cop a feel of her derrière. His hand was shaking with the effort he was exerting to prevent his traitorous hands from groping the girl sitting beside him. So far he was fighting a losing battle. His hand kept creeping closer and closer. When it finally made contact he savored the feel of her perfectly rounded tush for about .3 seconds before Sango stiffened and turned to slap him soundly across the face.

As he lay sprawled across the floor the roving hand holding his bruised cheek with Sango standing over him hands on her hips, only one thought was going through his mind: _It was all worth it._

XXXXXXXXXX

"Alright Kagome, what do you plan to do about Naraku?"

Kagome cleared her throat and looked anywhere but at Shippo. "Well I, uh, hadn't thought of that yet."

Shippo took a step closer. "What if he shows up? Then what would you do?"

"I'd call the cops."

"What if he gets inside without you noticing? Are you going to hit him with a plunger? What if he's here when you walk in the door and he grabs you?"

"I don't know okay! I haven't had much of a chance to think about it! Just . . . . give me a little bit and I'll think of something."

"You don't have that kind of time because you don't know what or when he'll do something. You need to stay somewhere other than here."

Kagome set her jaw. "I'm not leaving my apartment."

"You can't stay here!"

"Well I'm not leaving."

Shippo searched his mind for anything he could think of to make her leave. He wasn't able to come up with anything. "Would you let Cujo stay with you? He could go to class with you too. That way you would always have some protection."

"I appreciate it Shippo, but my apartment can't take it and I don't feel like being sued because Cujo attacked my geography professor."

"I'll stay with you."

Kagome gave a faint smile. "You know you can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because Cujo would come with you since no one is willing to watch him. So for the same reasons. Cujo can't stay here again. I'm still trying to replace everything he chewed up."

"Kagome you have to do something! You need-"

"I will stay with her."

"Huh?" Both Kagome and Shippo turned to face the other forgotten occupant of the room. "You'll what?"

"I said I will stay." He turned to Kagome. "Unless you have suddenly become willing to leave your apartment."

"You can't stay with me." Kagome said incredulously.

"Why not?" Sesshoumaru asked calmly as if he regularly offered to stay with worried females. "I can assure you that you would be safe. Anyone foolish enough to attack me would soon regret it."

"B-but you're a guy."

Sesshoumaru remained unphased. "So is the kitsune, and the only reason you wouldn't allow him to stay is his . . . dog. I have no such animal. I attend classes at the same university. It would inconvenience neither of us."

"Don't you have better things to do though? I would hate to be a bother." Kagome said hoping to convince him that she didn't need him to stay. The last thing she needed was an extremely hot guy that she may or may not like staying with her in her apartment. One that she was sure she had almost kissed. She didn't think it would best for her to stay there with him. No one but the two of them. Sango would be all for it. She wasn't. She hadn't even had time to think about everything that had happened in the past 18 hours for crying out loud!

"As previously stated, it would not be an inconvenience."

"But where would you sleep?"

"I could bring my blow up mattress over." Piped up Shippo.

Kagome swung around to face him, eyes wide in shock. "Shippo!"

"Kagome! It's a good idea. If Naraku can sense jaki at all, even he should be warned away by Sesshoumaru staying here. No one in their right mind attacks the Prince of the Western Lands."

"Well what happens when Sesshoumaru leaves? This would only be a temporary fix. Naraku's has patience. He can wait."

"Well Sesshoumaru can stay here until we can figure something else out."

"Then it is decided. Bring your blow up mattress. I will be back shortly. I need to get some of my things. You will stay with her until I return." Sesshoumaru went over to the door and slipped on the shoes he had taken off after Kagome had gotten him to stop trying to choke the life out of her baby brother.

"Hey I never agreed to this!" Kagome protested.

"Pity, but your opinion wasn't required."

Kagome stared in shock as Sesshoumaru walked out of her apartment. She had just been over ruled. And they didn't even live here.

Shippo just patted her sympathetically on the back and turned on the T.V.


	20. The Cat and the Dog

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. I have once again gotten new chains for Sesshoumaru. I have been assured by the sales lady that even he cannot break them and that they are impervious to his acid. Now all I have to do is find Sesshoumaru again . . .**

**Authors Note:** I swear my muse has a twisted sense of humor. I say I want to type up a chapter by a certain time and she goes on vacation. I say I want a break, she doesn't leave me alone. This is the second chapter in 3 days that I wasn't going to write until after the 13th (that's my B-day whoo hoo I'll be 19!) and yet I sat down at my computer today and this just came out of me. She must really like all those cookies and pocky you guys sent! Anyway, read, review, and enjoy!

Shippo glanced at Kagome from the corner of his eye. She was sitting at her desk and checking her email. She had calmed down a little bit after he had told her the benefits of having someone else staying with her (i.e. someone else could do dishes half the time and could pay half the rent and for half of the food). She had seemed much happier after he had shared that with her. They had sat in front of the T.V. for a few minutes before she got a very diabolical look in her eyes and went to her room muttering something about a list and Sesshoumaru. Shippo got the feeling he should feel pity for the unfortunate dog demon.

By the time she had come out of her room, Kagome had decided that Sesshoumaru would be paying his half of the rent in 3 days. It didn't matter that she had just paid the rent. He didn't know that. And besides, the rent she had already paid was so that she could stay this month. And now Sesshoumaru was staying this month, so she wasn't really ripping him off. She didn't care that he might only stay a few days. He was going to go buy enough groceries to stock her cabinets too. He just didn't know it yet. He was also going to fix that leaky faucet, and that little hole in the wall where Shippo had putted a golf ball a little too hard last week . . . .

A giggle escaped as she read the email that her aunt Chi had sent her. It was called The Cat and Dog Diary. "What's so funny?" asked Shippo.

Kagome waved him over. "This email from my aunt Chi. You have to read it. Can't you just imagine a cat thinking this?"

Shippo stood and went over to her desk. He stood behind her and read over her shoulder. He laughed out loud at what he saw:

Dogs Are From Venus, Cats Are From Mars

EXCERPTS FROM A DOG'S DAILY DIARY:

8:00 a.m. Oh, boy! Dog food! My favorite!

9:30 a.m. Wow! A car ride! This is a blast!

9:40 a.m. Got to go to the park! Rolled in some really nasty stuff, was so proud of myself. Humans were less than impressed.

10:30 a.m. Got my tummy rubbed and petted! I'm in love!

12:00 p.m. Lunch! Yummy!

1:00 p.m. Played in the yard! I loved it!

3:00 p.m. Stared adoringly at my masters...they're the best!

4:00 p.m. Hooray! The kids got home! I was so happy I was bouncing off the walls!

5:00 p.m. Milkbones! Great!

7:00 p.m. Got to play ball! What a day, this was too good to be true!

8:00 p.m. Wow! Watching TV with my master! Heavenly!

EXCERPTS FROM A CAT'S DAILY DIARY:

Day 683 of My Captivity:

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.

They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order

to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomited on the floor.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a ''good little hunter'' I am. The audacity!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However,

I could hear the noise and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to my power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow-- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released--and he seems more than willing to return! He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant-- I observe him

communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. The captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe-- for now. But I can wait.

It is only a matter of time

"That is just too funny!" He said wiping a tear from his eye. "You have to let Sesshoumaru read this when he gets back!"

"Read what?" asked a voice from the door way.

The two by the computer jumped, startled. "How do you do that?" She turned in her seat to glare at Sesshoumaru as he dropped his duffle bag by the door and took off his shoes.

"Do what?"

"That sneaky noiseless walk, how do you do it?"

"I do nothing. You are just too deaf to hear my footsteps."

"Well, I'm youkai, and I can never hear you coming either." Shippo said in defense of his friend.

Sesshoumaru smirked. "That just proves once again that I am better than you." He turned to Kagome. "What is so funny that I have to read it?"

She gestured to her computer monitor. "This email that I got from my aunt Chi."

"Very well. Let me see it." He came to stand behind Kagome and Shippo was forced to step to the side or have Sesshoumaru looming over his shoulder-he chose to step to the side.

Kagome bit her lip to keep from laughing at the obvious distaste she could see in Sesshoumaru's almost non-expression. He snorted when he was done. "This is trash."

"Hey!" cried Kagome indignantly. "My aunt sent me this. She doesn't send me trash!"

"Then I am sorry to inform you that this time she did," said Sesshoumaru as he went to the door and picked up his duffle bag.

"Why do you say that?" She stood up from her swivel chair.

"Because it makes the dog act like a moron and the cat appears to be smart. That is simply not the way things really are."

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "I think someone took offence to an email." She said in a sing song voice.

"I would do no such thing," scoffed Sesshoumaru.

"I think she hit a nerve," said Shippo mimicking Kagome's tone from his place on the couch. He casually changed the channel on the T.V. "I think she stepped on it." He looked over to Kagome and saw that she had the same grin that he did. "And I think it annoys you . . .

"IMMENSELY AND A LOT!" They shouted in unison.

"I think that the email gets _in_ his nerves don't you Shippo?"

"I concur," said the kitsune.

They giggled uncontrollably for a few minutes while Sesshoumaru looked on in disgust. What had he gotten himself into? _The kitsune won't be staying_, he consoled himself. _She only acts like this when he is around._ "Where should I put this?" he asked holding up his bag once the giggles had subsided.

Kagome looked around her apartment. "I don't know. Where ever you want to I guess. Whatever makes it easier on you."

Sesshoumaru walked over to the couch and sat down, putting the bag beside him between the couch and the wall. "It is out of the way here." He said by way of explanation when she looked at him questioningly. He turned to Shippo, "Don't you need to get me a mattress?"

Shippo blinked. "Oh, yeah. I'll go get that then." He gave Kagome a good bye hug. "I'll be back in a few minutes." He nodded in Sesshoumaru's direction.

"O.K." She said as she closed the door.

Kagome turned to Sesshoumaru and he felt a bit of unease creep up on him when he saw the gleam in her eye before he squashed the feeling mercilessly. "Sesshoumaru."

"Yes?" He asked, feeling the unease coming back despite himself.

"Since your going to be staying here, there are a few things that I need your help with . . ."

Sesshoumaru knew with absolute certainty that whatever she had to say wasn't going to be good for him.

XXXXXXXXXX

Inuyasha breathed in deeply through his nose and exhaled through his mouth. Everyone had always told him that you were supposed to breathe like that when you ran. He didn't know if it was true or not, but he did it anyway. It helped him to think. He had spent the last hour of his life thinking about Kagome and what the Shippo guy had asked him to do. He let out a grunt that could have been a laugh. He wondered what his brother would do. Not that he really cared or anything.

Inuyasha methodically went through his usual routine as he ran. He had come to a decision. He reached into his pocket and glanced at the number written there. He had a phone call to make.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome mentally replayed everything that had happened that day. She had attacked her brother with a plunger. Kagura had given Sesshoumaru her number and address. Sesshoumaru had come to her address using the information given to him by Kagura (she really was going to have to talk to that girl!), she had told Sesshoumaru about Naraku, they had almost kissed (at least she thought they had almost kissed), Shippo showed up because Souta called him and interrupted the almost kiss(she would have to talk to him too-Souta that is), and then Shippo and Sesshoumaru decided that she couldn't stay in _her_ apartment by herself. Then, Sesshoumaru just commanded her to let him stay in her apartment.

She snorted. She didn't need his protection. She could take care of herself. She groaned miserably and put her face in her hands. Who was she kidding? She had attacked her brother with a plunger! And he had been being kind of sweet before Shippo showed up. He had said he protected his friends. And that he would protect her. She smiled to herself. He had said she was his friend. The thought made her strangely happy. She blushed and flopped over so that her face was buried in the arm of the couch.

Sesshoumaru glanced over at the girl he was now sharing an apartment with. As soon as Shippo left she had told him of the different chores he was expected to do and that it was his turn to buy groceries since she had bought the last batch-never mind the fact that he hadn't been here before to buy groceries. After Shippo had come back with the mattress she had changed into sponge bob sleeping pants and a white t-shirt and announced that they should watch some T.V.

She was obviously deep in thought, and her expression changed with every thought that passed through her head. When she snorted he turned to look at her again. She seemed angry now. He almost felt like laughing when her mood changed again and she buried her head in her hands. Then she smiled before he noticed a pink tint creeping up her neck towards her face. Then she suddenly went sideways and put her face in the arm of the couch. He shook his head. She was such an odd creature.

He blinked in surprise when she suddenly popped back up. "Hey Sesshoumaru?

"Yes?" he asked muting the T.V.

"What did Shippo mean when he said you were the Prince of the West? We don't have Lords and Princes and Ladies and Princesses any more."

"Many centuries before you were born, when there were such things as Lords and Ladies, my father was the Lord of the Western lands. That made me Prince of the Western lands. Humans no longer recognize it, but demons still acknowledge the old ways and my father is still Lord."

"So you are still the Prince?"

He nodded his head in confirmation.

"Oh, okay."

"That is all you have to say about my being a Prince?" he asked with a small amount of incredulity coloring his voice.

"Well if I said anything else, your head would explode all over my nice furniture." She smiled a bit too sweetly at him. "And we couldn't have that."

Sesshoumaru just ignored her and un-muted the T.V., idly wondering how long he would have to stay in the shower for her to run out of hot water. He smirked imagining the way she would react to having no hot water in her shower when she woke up the next morning.

XXXXXXXXXX

Shippo rolled his neck until he felt some of the kinks pop out. Naraku was a tricky bastard and they would all have to watch carefully for him. He threw his keys down on a side table and went to the fridge to get a drink. He needed to call Kagura too about giving Motosuwa Kagome's address. He took a sip of his coke and grabbed his phone.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naraku scowled and shut his lap top. He didn't like what he had found out. The silver haired demon he had seen in Kagome's apartment was Sesshoumaru Motosuwa, one of the most powerful demons in exsistence. If she was hanging around him, it would be hard for him to get her alone. Dog demons were notorious for their possessiveness and if Sesshoumaru had began to view the girl in a friendly light then it would make his job much more difficult.

And he had seen the Kitsune coming out of her apartment as well. His sources had told him that the runt was in America. He hadn't forgotten what the boy had done to him last time. It was because of him that he had been put in jail. It looked like his source had been wrong and that he would have to kill him. It was a pity too; he was usually so good about getting him information.

He resigned himself to the fact that he would have to wait for an opportune moment, he couldn't risk it right now with the dog and the fox hovering around her like flies attracted to honey.

He smiled evilly. He would wait as long as necessary. How long would they?


	21. Cold Showers

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the franchise. Any and all attempts at owning Sesshoumaru have been foiled and I am bringing in the heavy artillary.**

**Authors Note:** Sorry that this took so long! was having problems or something, it wouldn't let me load my stories. And I am very sad to say that my updates probably will not be as frequent for a few months. There are a few reasons for this: 1) School is starting back so I will have less time 2) I'm looking into finding a second job so that I can pay for next semester so less time. 3) I need to sleep at some point and with 2 jobs and 15 hours of school, it will be harder for me to sit down and write. But don't worry, you should never go too long without an update. It just won't be every few days or anything unless I'm on break. Again very sorry. And I am posting my stories on A Single Spark incase ever has problems, that way you can read the story there if I can't post here. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Kagome yawned and blinked sleepily while shutting off her alarm with practiced movements. It was especially hard to wake up this morning for some reason. She felt her eyes begin to drop shut; the sound of running water always did put her to sleep . . .

That thought woke her with the same efficiency as a bucket of cold water. Her shower was running. She looked around her room hoping to find a clue as to why her shower was on and she wasn't in it. Spying her clothes from the night before in the crumpled heap where she had left them reminded her that she had an uninvited houseguest. Said house guest was in her shower (not that she had another one) which meant he had come into her room while she was sleeping. The nerve of him! She could have been naked for all he knew! Granted she didn't sleep naked and if she did, she wouldn't while there was a guy staying in her apartment . . . .

But that was beside the point! The point was that he didn't know that, and he had come into her room without waiting for her to say it was okay! He was going to die!

Of course, since he was in the shower right now, and she didn't want to go beat him up while he was naked (that road was better left untread), she decided that she could kill him after coffee and a nice hot shower. So grumbling the entire way, she went to the kitchen and started to make the coffee. She considered not making enough for Sesshoumaru, but because depriving someone of coffee was just too evil a concept, even for her, she opted to make enough for him too. It only showed that she was a better person than him. _She _didn't go into sleeping peoples' rooms and steal their showers. That was him.

She curled up on the couch, letting the mug warm her fingers as she waited for Sesshoumaru to get out of her bathroom. As she sipped her coffee she couldn't help but think that he took a really long shower for a guy. She shrugged; it must be because of his really long hair.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Tell me why I shouldn't just kill you now."

"Because it wouldn't benefit you to kill me. I'm still useful."

Naraku raised an obsidian eyebrow. "So useful that you failed to tell me that the kitsune was no longer in America."

The man across from him shrugged. "When you asked me to check on him, he was in America. He wasn't the priority. I didn't check him again. There had been no indication that he was planning to leave America for Japan."

"That is not a reason to keep you alive." His eyes narrowed. "It is an excuse."

"But I can still help you." The evil in his smile rivaled Naraku's. "I can trail the girl. She is on the lookout for you," his smile flashed some fangs. "I on the other hand, will not be noticed. I can help you to get her alone."

"Show me why I hired you then." His gaze darkened and his companion felt a chill run down his spine. "If you fail me again, you will wish you had never taken this assignment." He steepled his hands in front of him on the table. "I will only call you by your alias for security reasons. Do you understand, Brodi?"

"Yes sir." Naraku smiled and 'Brodi' thought he preferred the glare.

"Good."

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru cut off the water when it began to run cold. He felt better already. Now that he'd had a nice hot shower, he felt he could start to fix that hole in the wall later today. He wondered what Kagome would feel up to after her shower. He smirked. Her very cold shower.

He stepped out and grabbed a fresh towel (he had gotten it out from the cabinet under the sink himself) from the rack. He wrapped the brown fluffy towel around his waist and wrung out his hair into the bath tub. He watched in amusement as it ran down the drain in a miniature river.

When he left the bathroom he half expected Kagome to still be in bed asleep, but a cursory glance towards the bed showed that she had already woken up. He sniffed discreetly and found her scent and the scent of freshly brewed coffee to be coming from the living room. Coffee sounded like a good idea to him, so he left her bedroom with the dual purpose of retrieving his clothes from his duffle bag and getting his daily dose of caffeine.

He saw her sitting on the couch curled up against the side her head lolling to the side. Taking notice of her precarious grip on her coffee mug, he took it out of her hands and placed it on the little table beside the couch onto a coaster. He debated on waking her up after he had gotten his clothes on sure that if he woke her up only wearing a towel she would be mortified.

He decided to wake her up while he was still in his towel.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome could feel someone trying to shake her awake, but being asleep just felt too good. So she ignored the insistent shaking and burrowed further into the couch. "Five more minutes," she mumbled almost incoherently.

The shaking became rougher. "I said five minutes, Souta!" she swatted blindly with her right hand at the person shaking her wiping her hand on her pajama pants when it became wet.

"Get up girl. Unless you wish to be late to class."

It took a minute, but the voice finally penetrated Kagome's sleep addled brain and she realized that the voice didn't belong to her brother. It belonged to . . . .

Her eyes popped open and there was Sesshoumaru. Leaning towards her to give her another shake. She noticed three things. 1) Sesshoumaru's hair was wet, 2) He had a very nice, very bare, damp chest, 3) The only thing Sesshoumaru was wearing was one of her fluffy brown towels. So she said the first thing that came to mind. "You're wearing my favorite towel."

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, this was an opportunity not to be wasted. "I can fix that problem if you wish," he said slowly, obviously wondering at her sanity. He watched as a blush flooded her face once she realized the implications and wondered exactly how far down it went when he saw it disappear beneath the collar of her pajama shirt.

"That's okay," she squeaked. "Just don't use it again. Use one of the white or blue ones."

She sat there for a moment, watching as he calmly went to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. He went over to his bag and fished around for a moment before pulling out some clothes and taking a sip of his steaming coffee. She looked around for the coffee she knew she had poured for herself and found it sitting on her Merry Kiss Moose coaster.

With that mystery solved she decided it was high time for her to take her shower and most importantly, get out of the same room as Sesshoumaru when the only thing he was wearing was a towel. It sounded like a good course of action to her so exited the room as speedily as possible for a girl carrying a ¾ full coffee mug could without spilling any coffee.

She set her coffee mug on the counter by the sink and turned the water on. She grabbed a towel out from under the cabinet and stepped into the shower.

In the living room Sesshoumaru was forced to cover his ears to prevent temporary deafness from the sheer volume of the scream that came from Kagome's bathroom.

XXXXXXXXXX

Shippo decided that he was going to invest in more minutes for his cell phone plan. Everyone just kept calling him. He thought about ignoring the call, but the person was insistent and called again. He reached into his pocket and flipped open the phone. It was Souta, so he was probably calling about Kagome.

"So what happened when you got over there?"

Shippo looked around furtively. You never knew who could be listening when Naraku was lurking about. "Sesshoumaru was there."

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that some guy was there."

"You knew!" Shippo took his cell phone away from his ear and glared at it a moment. "That would have been a nice bit of info to have shared when you called me the first time."

"Yeah, well he attacked me when he came in did he do anything to you?. He thought I had hurt Kagome."

"He attacked you?" Shippo paused speculatively. "Huh, that is interesting."

"Well I'm glad you find it interesting. I found it to be a very awful and painful experience. First the plunger, then the strangulation-"

"Whoa, explain the plunger thing." There was a definite laugh in Shippo's voice.

Souta was extremely put out. "Ask Kagome. Make her explain it to you; it was her plunger after all."

"Was?"

"Yeah, it's broken now."

Shippo snorted.

"So, what happened after you got there?"

"Well it was decided that Sesshoumaru, that's the guy that was there, would be staying with her to help keep her safe until a better course of action could be decided upon."

"Kagome agreed to that?"

"Nah, we just told her that's what was happening."

Souta felt a smidge of pity for the boy on the other end of the phone. "She is going to get you for that."

Shippo laughed. "I don't doubt it. That's why I let Sesshoumaru be the one to stay with her. She'll take most of her frustrations out on him. I'll get the leftovers. He is the one that's going to be subjected to the bulk of it."

"She'll make him fix things."

Even though Souta couldn't see it, Shippo nodded his head in affirmation. "Probably."

Souta was silent for a moment then asked, "So why aren't you at your dorm right now?"

"I'm on my way to a friend's house."

"Anyone I know?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Can you give me a name?"

Shippo's smirk truly showed his kitsune nature. "It's a secret."

"There are times that I hate you."

"I know," Shippo said sagely. And then he hung up.

Souta sighed in disgust. Kagome sure knew how to pick 'em. But at least they would keep her safe.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sango hummed happily to herself as she rode the elevator up to Kagome's floor. She was officially dating Miroku (she refused to be his girlfriend until he could stop the groping), she had found $20.00 in her jeans, and she and Kagome were walking to campus together so that they could talk about boys. She switched the cappuccinos she had bought (using the money she had found in her jeans) to her other hand and opened Kagome's apartment door using her spare key.

"Hey Kagome! Are you ready yet?" she asked setting the capicunios down on the coffee table.

"She should be out shortly."

Sango let out a tiny scream and whirled around when she heard the very definitely male voice behind her. Her eyes widened when she saw him. He was gorgeous! And he reminded her of Inuyasha. That meant that he was probably his brother, Sesshoumaru . . .

"Sango?" Kagome asked coming into the living room towel drying her hair and shooting Sesshoumaru a dirty look which he expertly ignored. "You're here early."

"Why is he here?" she asked tilting her head in Sesshoumaru's general direction.

"Oh, he stayed the night." Kagome could practically see the wheel's turning in Sango's head and immediately regretted her words she waved her hands as if to dispel what she had just said. "Not like that pervert! A lot of things have happened, which I will be more than happy to tell you about later so don't bother asking now," she said holding up her hand when she felt Sango might start asking questions. "Sesshoumaru's here because he and Shippo feel that I need protection."

"But why would you-"

Kagome held up her hand again. "I'll explain it all later. Is that cappuccino?" she asked changing the subject effortlessly.

"Yeah, I found some extra money so I picked it up for us."

Sesshoumaru just watched it all from the couch. He shook his head when they started talking about their outfits. They were such girls.


	22. An Unexpected Kiss

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Any and all attempts at owning even part of the Inuyasha franchise has been brutally rebuffed by a horde of lawyers (and let us not leave out the local senator who laughs at me) hired by the creator to keep people like me away.**

**Authors Note:** Sorry that this took so long. I haven't had a lot of time (all of those things previously mentioned aka home work and just plain work have been monopolizing it) and I had a mild case of writers block that left me stuck not knowing how to word the last part of the chapter. I wanted it to be perfect, and even though it isn't, it is as close to it as I can achieve at this point without taking an insane amount of time to post the chapter. So enjoy if you can, and if there is anyone who I did not reply to that left a review, I am very sorry, fanfiction has been having some problems and I was having trouble replying. On with the story!

Kagome held the steaming cup of cappuccino up to her nose and took a deep breath. She didn't care that she had downed two cups of coffee not thirty minutes before. Cappuccino was awesome. It smelled wonderful and gave another wonderful dose of caffeine. There was nothing wrong with that in her book. She took a cautious sip, not wanting to scald her tongue. "This is great Sango, thanks."

Sango stuffed her hands in her jacket pocket. "Not a problem." She glanced furtively over her shoulder to the tall dog demon walking a few paces behind them. "Why is he trailing us?"

Kagome turned her head, not even trying to hide the fact that she was looking at him. She gave him a cheeky grin and a little wave. She turned back to her friend. "He's not trailing us he goes to school here too; and I told you I have some explaining to do about what's happened since, well, last night. But right now isn't a good time. I would rather do it when Sesshoumaru's not around."

"Who is he anyway?" As soon as the words were out of her mouth she regretted it. Kagome was looking at her like she had gone insane.

"You don't remember?" Sango shook her head. "You met him in the park when Cujo tried to bite him." Sango just looked at her as clueless as ever. "He invited us over to his apartment but you declined . . ."

Recognition sparked to life. "Oh yeah, I remember now." She scratched the back of her neck sheepishly. "I blame my forgetfulness on lack of sleep." She took a long draw from her Styrofoam cup. "Yum. This is bliss."

"You can say that again."

"Yum. This is bliss."

Kagome laughed. "You act like such a moron sometimes, Sango."

"I know. I'm proud of it." She drug her fingers along the chain link fence surrounding the chemistry lab.

Kagome just rolled her eyes. She glanced back over her shoulder at Sesshoumaru. "You can walk with us you know. We aren't diseased or anything." Sesshoumaru didn't say anything, but he lengthened his strides until he had caught up with the two girls. "This isn't so bad is it?" asked Kagome patting his arm.

Sesshoumaru held his head high but let his eyes slant towards the shorter girl. "It depends."

"On what?" Kagome's hands went to her hips in true irritated female fashion.

"On whom you are asking. If you were asking Miroku, he would say it was just fine as he is walking with two girls."

Kagome's eyes narrowed dangerously. "And what do you say?" Sesshoumaru didn't reply just looked at her for a moment before turning right when the path split. "Where are you going?" hollered Kagome.

Sesshoumaru turned his head, "To class, as should you." Even though he was a good distance away and he didn't raise his voice the two girls heard him perfectly.

"Wow," said Sango, a tinge of awe in her voice. "That takes skill." They watched him walk farther down the path until he disappeared. "Now, tell what happened last night that involved him being at your apartment all night long," she linked arms with Kagome. "And I'll tell you about Miroku officially asking me out."

XXXXXXXXXX

Miroku was busy head banging along with his music and almost didn't hear his phone ringing. Tossing his headphones aside onto his bed he reached over for the phone. "Hello?"

"Miroku! How have you been?"

Miroku laughed delightedly. "Great! How are you?"

"I'm good. I've been doing some traveling while school is on break."

Miroku nodded his head knowingly even though the girl on the phone couldn't see. "Did you visit your dad in Osaka?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Where are you going next?"

"I'm glad you asked that, because I'm standing right outside your door."

Miroku scrambled over to the door and threw it open. Tossing the phone aside he immediately enveloped the young girl in his doorway into a bear hug and twirled her around. "Come inside and tell me what you've been doing."

He helped her bring her bags inside and prepared his guest a cup of tea. He sat down across the table from the cute dark haired girl. "How has school been going Rin?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome was shoving her way through the crowded hallway of the history building trying to get to where she and Sesshoumaru had agreed to meet on time when she collided with someone and they were both knocked backwards. "Great," she mumbled gathering her books and papers off the tiled floor. "Just what I need."

"I'm sorry," said a deep voice. A tanned hand appeared in her line of sight. "Let me help you up."

She grabbed the proffered hand and was immediately hoisted back to her feet. She brushed her bangs out of her eyes and looked at the guy she'd run into. He had ice blue eyes and a handsomely tanned face. His hair was black and pulled into a high ponytail. If she had to guess she'd say his hair was as long as hers. "Thanks, sorry about that."

He gave her a wolfish grin. "That's alright. I don't mind running into a pretty girl like you." He gave her the once over and his eyes lingered for just a second longer than was polite at where her yellow sundress ended just above her knees.

Kagome felt her face heat up as she watched him check her out. He wasn't even trying to be discreet about it! She cleared her throat to get his attention. "Well, I have to be going now, so I'll see you around!" she started to leave but her progress was impeded by the arm that blocked her way.

"Wait, can't I at least get your name?"

"Higurashi Kagome." She said hurriedly. She really needed to leave or she would be late and Sesshoumaru would give her an earful. She wasn't scared of him or anything; she just didn't want to hear him whining at her the entire walk back to her apartment.

"That's a beautiful name." he said as she brushed past him. "And my name's Tsukiro Kouga!" He yelled after her retreating form. He smirked as he watched her go. She was pretty. He put his thumbs in his pocket and started whistling, continuing on his way.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru sighed impatiently and leaned against the wall of the English lab. She was late. He was torn between being annoyed and being worried. On the one hand, she probably stopped to talk to people or was going slow just to irritate him, hence the annoyance. But on the other hand, he was staying in her apartment with her for a reason, hence the worry. He'd give her five more minutes before he sniffed her out, and if she was dallying on purpose he'd use all of the hot water again tomorrow.

He was just about to start looking for her when he caught her scent coming his way. He inhaled deeply. She smelled like the cappuccino she'd had that morning and of wolf. His eyes narrowed. Why did she smell like wolf? By the time she had made it to him he had a frown on his face.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked put off by the fact that he hadn't even said hello and was already glaring at her like she had done something wrong.

"You smell of wolf."

Kagome looked at him uncomprehendingly. "What?"

"You smell of wolf. Why do you smell of wolf?"

"I don't know. I haven't been around any wolves recently. . ."

Sesshoumaru's expression shifted minutely and Kagome got the impression that he was exasperated. "Not the animal. You smell of wolf demon."

Her eyes light with understanding recalling the youki she had felt coming from the guy she had just ran into. "Oh, that must have been the demon I literally ran into earlier. He's the reason I'm late. We ran into each other in the history building and he wouldn't stop talking."

"Hn."

He saw when she rolled her eyes as she walked past him. "Let's go, I want to stop by the store and pick up some Thai noodles for dinner and if you keep dragging your feet I won't let you have any."

He snorted. She had kept him waiting fifteen minutes but if he didn't hurry she'd prevent him from eating dinner? Like he'd let that happen.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naraku read the sheaf of papers that Brodi had delivered to him not five minutes before. He leaned back in his swivel chair and focused on what Brodi had told him. The Prince of Dogs was walking her to and from school now and staying at her apartment. He frowned. He did not . . . . appreciate that turn of events. He crumpled up the first paper.

Brodi had better do his job.

Or he wouldn't be alive much longer to have one.

XXXXXXXXXX

The wind blew Inuyasha's hair over his shoulders so that it streamed behind him like a banner. "Stupid wind," he mumbled hunching his shoulders as if to block out the cool breeze. He kicked a bottle cap lying on the ground and watched as it skittered across the sidewalk.

He didn't know what to do. He liked Kagome and she accepted him as he was, something that few beside his mother had ever done. On the other hand, the caller from the other day, Shippo, had presented a compelling argument even revealing an elaborate plot to insure that Kagome ended up with the right person.

He didn't want to stand in her way, and at the same time, he didn't want to give her up either. He had made the decision earlier today that he was going to see her and judge for himself if he had a chance at winning her affections. He kicked the bottle cap again and wondered what she would do when he got to her apartment.

XXXXXXXXXX

_I need to have that fixed_. Kagome stared critically at the crack in her ceiling from her spot on the floor. She had just done 200 crunches while waiting for Sesshoumaru to come back from his apartment. He had went over to get some movies and CD's, as well as his shampoo and conditioner preferring the brand he usually bought over the kind Kagome had, but unwilling to buy more when he had almost a full bottle at his apartment.

She grinned sadistically to herself. She knew who could fix the crack. Sesshoumaru could. He was also going to be taking a cold shower tomorrow morning. She had made friends with the resident 'handy man' of the building and he was cutting off her apartment's hot water later tonight. Sesshoumaru would be forced to take a freezing cold shower. And she was still able to get a hot shower because with the extra bribe of some home cooked food, the same person who cut off the hot water was going to turn it back on at 6:00.

This was well after Sesshoumaru would have taken his shower and before Kagome would even be awake. Even though tomorrow wasn't a school day, Sesshoumaru always woke up extremely early. She wasn't sure, but she thought she might have heard him say something about jogging. He was going to pay for making her take a cold shower. And the best part was that he wasn't expecting it.

He had been a little wary for a couple of days, but after the first 2 passed without any incidents of retribution, he had relaxed thinking that she had forgiven him for what she had dubbed 'the unspeakable act.'

Boy was he wrong.

A knock on her door interrupted her plotting. Standing she adjusted the waistband of her pajama pants where they had twisted slightly to the side and strutted over to the door with a swagger that would have made the most arrogant person on the planet proud. She didn't care who could see her?

Twisting the knob she pulled open her door (after unlocking it of course) and a nervous looking Inuyasha was revealed. He was twisting the hem of his red t-shirt between his claws and Kagome wondered how long it would take before he tore a hole in it. "Hello, Inuyasha," she moved over to allow him to pass. "Come in."

"Hey Kagome." He went into the living room and fidgeted as she closed the door not bothering to lock it, shifting from foot to foot.

"You can sit down," she said gesturing to the couch.

"Oh, right." He sat down heavily his cheeks tinted a light pink from embarrassment.

She sat down beside him and offered to get him a drink. He declined. "Kagome," he said turning to face her. "I have to ask you something. Do you like me?"

Kagome blushed and stammered. "O-of course I like you. Why wouldn't I?"

He leaned a little closer. "No, Kagome. I meant do you _like_ me?"

Her eyes darted around and she struggled to answer obviously not having expected this. "Well, I-"

She was cut off when Inuyasha suddenly leaned forward put his lips to hers and she fell back on the couch. Being nervous himself, he didn't realize how much force he had put into it, not having meant to pin her to the couch.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru fished around in his pocket for the spare key to Kagome's apartment he'd had made a few days before at the lock smiths while keeping a precarious grip on the items he had retrieved from his apartment. Turning the key in the lock he noticed that he door had been left unlocked. Turning the knob with two fingers and pushing the door open with his right foot he went inside.

Setting his things down beside the door he looked up felt his eyes bleed red at what he saw.


	23. Revelations

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I spent a breif period of time in prison due to someone saying that I did, as the lawyers heard about it, and had the police pick me up and arrest me on my way to buy pocky.**

**Authors Note: **Sorry that this has taken so long! I've been busy with work and school. But I did update, and I made the chapter longer than usual to make up for how long it took me. It's 3 minutes till 3 a.m. right now. I stayed up to type this. Hopefully everyone will enjoy it. On another note, I have reached 500 reviews! Thank you everyone who has ever taken the time to review. I couldn't have done it without you! My new goal now is to reach 1000 by the time the story is over. Thanks for all of the support!

Those who knew Kagome best would say that she was a very sweet, loving, and kind individual. She frequently went out of her way to help others if she was capable of doing so. She had a sunny disposition and a bright smile. She was easy going and fun to be around.

But if asked, those same people would also warn you that she was not to be crossed. Because though she was a very sweet, loving, and kind individual who helped others, she was also well known for her legendary temper. Shippo could attest to it as he had once been subjected to the full force of her ire the first time he had left Cujo with her-without telling her that said dog had a penchant for chewing up anything and everything he could get his teeth on. His ears had been sore for a week.

Inuyasha, however, did not know this. But he was about to know from first hand experience exactly what happened to those who invoked her wrath.

Kagome was momentarily stunned when she was unexpectedly pinned to her couch by an apparently hormonal Inuyasha. So stunned that her would be initial reaction of punching him so hard his children's children would feel it was delayed for a few moments as her brain tried to process what was going on.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru was seeing through a haze of red. He knew without a doubt that his eyes had bleed completely red, not a speck of gold or white to be seen. The only other time he could remember becoming angry enough to warrant his eyes completely changing color was when he discovered that his father had remarried to Inuyasha's mother.

He had just stepped forward to do many unspeakable and painful acts, when Kagome beat him to it. He felt the red haze fade to a light pink when Kagome shoved the hanyou off of her and the couch to land awkwardly on the carpet. As he watched her stand over the fallen boy and shake her finger at him he felt the pink recede to leave his normal irises.

He even felt a flicker of amusement when the blood rushing through him quieted down enough to hear exactly what was being said, although just the sight of her was enough to know she was angry. She was berating him and he looked officially cowed. She even went so far as to grab one of his ears, which had been left open for attack when his hat fell off after she pushed him off the couch.

Sesshoumaru felt extreme enjoyment whenever his half-brother winced in pain from a tug on his ear. It made him feel less inclined to murderous thoughts. It would after all be a hassle to explain to his father exactly why he had killed his brother. They would have to have a long talk . . . .

So this worked much better. True, Inuyasha wasn't as dead as he would have liked, but neither did he have to deal with the sticky situation that would follow later with his father if he decapitated his brother after slicing him open slowly and letting his poison run freely into his blood stream. Plus it would make a mess, and Kagome would make him clean it up. Blood was a hard stain to remove so it was better to just let Kagome smack him around a little.

XXXXXXXXXX

After letting Kagome abuse him for ten minutes and coming to grips with the fact that he would be helping someone he didn't know to set Kagome up with someone who wasn't him, Inuyasha had finally had enough. "Damnit woman! Stop it already!" he said batting her hands away when they reached out to twist his ears once more.

Kagome made a faint noise in the back of her throat that could have passed for a growl and put her hands on her hips. "Why should I?" she demanded to know.

"Because I said so! Damn! My ears are going to hurt for days! What did you do? Take a class on the best way to twist an ear?"

She stuck her nose up in the air and crossed her arms. "For your information, it was a necessary and useful skill when handling my younger brother and some of his little punk friends." She sniffed haughtily. "And it comes in handy in other _situations_ as well." Inuyasha was left with no doubt in his mind what kind of situations she was referring to.

Neither noticed that Sesshoumaru was back until Inuyasha reached out to touch Kagome and was suddenly pulled off his feet by the back of his neck. He hung there in midair for a second before he was swung around to come face to face with an angry Sesshoumaru. He gulped at the look in Sesshoumaru's narrowed eyes. "Uh, how long have you been here?"

"Long enough," his eyes seemed to project a sub zero degree of coolness. "What do you think you were doing Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha knew that his general wellbeing was hanging in the balance of his answer. He wondered if there was any response that would nullify Sesshoumaru's obvious temper at having caught him in the act of kissing the girl he suspected Sesshoumaru had a crush on. Adding that the girl hadn't been a willing participant was both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand it spelled his death as Sesshoumaru was undoubtedly ticked off about it. On the other hand, the fact that she hadn't reciprocated might offset his anger. It meant she didn't like him, which left room for her to like Sesshoumaru.

Inuyasha hoped his brother had thought of it that way. It was his best chance at survival.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru watched as Inuyasha struggled to find a suitable answer while dangling in the air with his hand around his throat. He felt a deep sense of satisfaction at the fear he could smell in his scent.

"It won't happen again," he said instead of answering the question.

"Of course it won't." He slowly lowered his brother to the ground, giving his neck on last squeeze as warning.

Inuyasha rubbed his sore throat after he had his feet back on the ground. He glanced at Kagome where she stood by the couch still looking a little angry. "I'd better go." He turned and headed for the door but paused in the door way. "I'll see you around?" He sounded hopeful.

Kagome relaxed her rigid stance and nodded her head once in affirmation.

Inuyasha's body visibly relaxed and he continued on his way.

Once Inuyasha was gone Sesshoumaru looked at Kagome. "Are you okay?"

She rubbed her arms and looked up at him. "I'm fine." She glanced down to where he had dropped his things. "Oh, no! Your shampoo bottle broke!"

Sesshoumaru looked down and saw his white colored shampoo leaking out of the plastic bag he didn't even remember dropping. He stooped down to pick it up and prevent more from spilling onto the floor as Kagome rushed by him into the kitchen to get some paper towels.

After they had cleaned up the shampoo and Sesshoumaru had put his things away they turned on the TV and sat beside each other on the couch. After a few minutes of silence Sesshoumaru decided to question Kagome about what exactly it was he had walked in on earlier.

"What happened earlier?"

Kagome considered feigning ignorance, but figured he would just keep at her until she told him, so she decided to go ahead and get it over with. "Well I had just finished doing some crunches while waiting for you to get back when he showed up. He said he had to ask me something.

"What did he ask?"

Kagome fidgeted and plucked lint from her pajama pants and looked any where but at him, the tips of her ears turning pink in a way Sesshoumaru found absolutely adorable. "He, uh, asked me if I liked him."

"And what did you say?" Sesshoumaru felt his heart rate increase as he waited for her to answer. What had she said? He disregarded the fact that she obviously hadn't been happy with the boy for what he had done. Just because she hadn't wanted him to kiss her, didn't mean that she didn't like her. He might have kissed her because she said she liked him.

"I told him that of course I liked him-" she paused and Sesshoumaru felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. _She liked the half breed?_ "But then he told me that he wanted to know if I _liked_ him liked him."

"And after he clarified what he meant, what did you say?"

"Actually I never got a chance to say anything. He kissed me before I could."

"Did you," he struggled to find the right words. "Did you want him to kiss you?"

Kagome considered his question, and Sesshoumaru could tell that she was taking her time answering to accurately assess what had happened. He gave her the time she needed. "I don't think so. I know I went on a date with him, but I think we would be better off as friends. I'm pretty sure that's what I would have told him. I don't think that he and I are meant to be a couple."

Sesshoumaru almost sighed in relief but refrained from doing so. "Why do you think that?"

"Because," she began looking up at him for the first time since she had begun answering his questions a very visible blush on her cheeks, "I think I like someone else."

XXXXXXXXXX

Miroku looked up from his intense study of the cards he had been dealt when he heard the door open. Rin had convinced him to play a game of poker with her to pass some time. She'd even managed to convince him to bet money. A decision he was regretting as he was currently thirty dollars in the hole. He couldn't believe he was losing to a highschooler.

"Hey Inuyasha," he greeted his friend.

"Hey Miroku." He tossed his keys onto the counter. "Who's this?"

"This is my cousin, Rin. Rin, this is Inuyasha."

"Nice to meet you." Said Rin with a friendly smile.

"Same here." Inuyasha shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot for a moment. "Well I'm going to bed now," he said clearly not sure what to do now that there was a girl in the house."

"How did it go at Kagome's?" asked Miroku as Inuyasha started to disappear down the hall.

"I'll tell you the details later, but it boils down to me helping the kitsune in his stupid little plan."

"She shot you down huh?"

"Screw you." Inuyasha called as he closed his bedroom door.

"What was all that about?" asked Rin taking out her hair bow and redoing the ponytail.

Miroku grinned. "It will take awhile to explain," he warned.

Rin grinned back. "I don't have school tomorrow."

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome grumbled to herself as she searched among the rows upon rows of batteries for the lithium batteries her calculator required. It seemed they had every kind but the ones she wanted!

She wasn't in a good mood. She hadn't gotten a lot of sleep because she'd been thinking about everything that had happened from the kiss to Sesshoumaru's reaction to it. After laying there for about an hour she had admitted to herself that she did in fact like him.

After that she'd managed to fall asleep but had woken later remembering that she'd had that other tenant turn the hot water off. She couldn't in good conscience do that to Sesshoumaru after he'd been so. . . well whatever he'd been. It felt wrong. So she'd laid there for another 30 minutes debating internally about calling and canceling her plans. If it hadn't been so late, she wouldn't have had a problem with it, but she didn't want to wake anyone up.

In the end she'd made the call.

So she was tired. And her graphing calculator had decided to up and die so she was at the store trying to find the lithium batteries that were apparently, non exsitant!

She decided to look one last time before going home and calling it quits when she saw a pack of them. She'd just reached for them when someone else reached for them too. Startled she let go and looked at the person whose hand she'd touched.

"Hello again," said the wolf demon she'd met earlier.

"Oh, hello." Kagome eyed the batteries. He wasn't going to take them was he? She needed them for her calculator!

"Fancy running into you here." He smiled at her charmingly. "It seems we're destined to run into each other."

Kagome highly doubted it, but figured it would be rude to point it out. "Well, it was nice seeing you again, but I need to get home, so I'll just get my batteries and go . . ."

"These batteries?" he asked holding up the pack and waving them slightly for emphasis.

"Yes those batteries."

"But I got to them first." He grinned at her and Kagome fought the urge to wipe it off his face. She was not in the mood this.

"No you didn't. I've been standing here for 15 minutes looking for them and I found them before you got here."

"But I'm the one with them in hand."

Kagome put her right hand on her hip and scowled. "But I saw them first and I need them for my calculator."

"Well, I need them for something too."

"I need them for school!"

"I need them for work."

"But I saw them first." She couldn't believe she was fighting with someone for a pack of batteries.

"But I got them first."

"But I need them more."

"No you don't."

"Yes I do."

"No you don't."

"Yes I do."

"No you don't."

"Yes I do."

"No you don't."

"Yes I do! School comes before work."

"No it doesn't."

"Yes it does."

"No it doesn't."

Sick of the argument Kagome held up her hands. "Look, I'm not here to fight with you. Can I please just have the batteries?"

"That depends."

She eyed him suspiciously. "What does it depend on?"

"Will you be my woman if I give you the batteries?"

"No." She got ready to hit him when he reached towards her, just in case he had any funny ideas, but was surprised when all he did was hand her the batteries.

"Here, consider it a gift." He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away with a haughty smile on his face.

Kagome felt like banging her head against a hard surface. What was that all about? And why did everyone she met want to have yes, no, arguments with her? First Inuyasha then this guy? Was she cursed with the inability to hold a decent conversation?

She shook her head and went to the check out line. She needed go to work. Maybe when she got there she would have a chance to talk to Kagura about Sesshoumaru. And about Inuyasha. And this weird Kouga guy. Hell she just needed to talk.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru tapped his pencil against the coffee table where he was supposed to be doing his home work. He just couldn't concentrate. He'd realized something last night while talking to Kagome. He liked her. A lot. He didn't know when exactly it had happened. She just seemed to grow on him like the mold that he wouldn't admit to being in his closet.

He'd been furious when he had seen Inuyasha kissing her but happy when she got angry about it. He was glad she didn't like his brother. But who was it that she did like? She hadn't said who it was last night. She hadn't said much after her revelation opting instead for silence until she went to bed.

He hadn't pushed the issue. The way she'd looked at him when she'd said it . . .

It gave him hope.


	24. Pillow Fight!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Sesshoumaru or Kagome or, oh screw it, I don't own any of them! I do own a Sesshoumaru and a Kagome doll however (thanks Bubbles!). I did have Sesshoumaru under my control for a little while, but he once again managed to break free.**

**Authors Note:** I am so sorry that this took so long! A lot has been going on lately beginning with writers block, my great grandfather having a heart attack, exams, finding out I had to find a new place to live . . . some more writers block . . . . finding a new place to live and not having the internet for a month . . . picking up extra shifts so as to be able to afford said new place to live . . needless to say, I just didn't have the time to write. I wanted to, but everytime I sat down to do it, nothing came to me. On another note, thank you all for your lovely reviews! I got another one last night and decided that I was going to have to sit here until I got the chapter that has been in the making since September was finished. I will respond to all of the reviews within the next few days both for this chapter and for the last. Thank you so much for yoru support! I promise to never leave you hanging that long ever again for the rest of this story! Now, on to the story, and don't forget to review!

Shippo tapped his fingers on the desk in front of him impatiently. Inuyasha was late. He was supposed to have been by to pick up Cujo half an hour ago and he still wasn't here. He was trying to be patient, since he knew that Inuyasha harbored no good feelings for Cujo and was doing him a favor by watching him (the favor was costing him $50.00), but if he didn't hurry it up, Shippo was going to be later for his, er, meeting.

Just when he was about to call him to see what the hold up was, a knock resounded from his door. "It's about time," he said opening the door.

"Keh," Inuyasha scoffed. "Just be happy that I'm watching the mutt for you." He looked past Shippo. "Where is the dog from Hell anyway?"

Shippo glowered at the canine hanyou standing in his doorway. "He is not a mutt."

"Whatever," he said waving his hand negligently as if to dispel Shippo's words. "Where is he?"

"Stay here and I'll go get him."

Inuyasha crossed his arms and tapped his claws impatiently against his arms. "Don't forget the leash!" he called out as Shippo disappeared down the hall. "That dog is viscous!"

"No he isn't," Shippo said walking back rubbing Cujo's ears and talking baby talk to him. "Isn't that right, Cujo? You're a good boy aren't you?"

Inuyasha wrinkled his nose in disgust. "You sound like a girl."

Shippo stopped the baby talk and grunted like a man.

Cujo growled at Inuyasha and snapped at his hand.

"Ahh! Put a muzzle on your mutt!" Inuyasha said taking a step back away from Cujo.

Shippo crossed his arms over his chest and patted Cujo on the head to keep him from growling more. "He doesn't like you insulting him."

"He's just a dog. He doesn't understand what I'm saying."

Cujo growled again and bared his fangs.

Inuyasha let out a nervous laugh and changed the subject. Grabbing Cujo's leash he lead the dog out the door. "If he bites me, you owe me an extra twenty bucks, Shippo."

"If he bites you, it's your own fault!" Shippo called out after him.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I think it's time to tell her." Kagura whispered

Shippo fidgeted in his seat nervously. "I think we should wait a little longer. The plan is coming along nicely, and if we tell her, it will destroy everything." He whispered back, careful to keep his voice low to avoid being shushed.

Kagura raised an eyebrow.

"Really." Seeing her nonplussed expression, he continued. "I think it will work out nicely very soon."

Kagura scooted over and lifted the arm rest that separated them. "And then?"

Shippo smiled and put his arm around Kagura's shoulders. "And then the truth will come out."

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome cracked open an eye and looked around the living room for Sesshoumaru. He was passed out on the floor beside the couch. The last thing she remembered was sitting on the couch and watching T.V. with Sesshoumaru and almost telling him that she liked him! How utterly embarrassing! What if he didn't like her back? How could he like her back? He was so . . . . Sesshoumaru. And she was just too Kagome for it to work, right?

She fumbled around for a minute until she grasped a throw pillow. Eyeing Sesshoumaru one last time and taking note of the slight trickle of drool leaking from the corner of his mouth (it could be used for black mail later), she swung the throw pillow at his head. She stifled a giggle at his disoriented yet disgruntled expression and quickly feigned sleep.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru was lost in a peaceful dreamland when he was suddenly rudely awakened when something thumped against his head. He sat up halfway on his elbows and looked over to the couch where Kagome was laying peacefully . . . . a little too peacefully. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. His eyes moved from the pillow on the floor to the girl sprawled on the couch. It had to have been her. There was no one else and the pillow had hit him too hard to have just fallen off the couch.

Moving slowly so that she wouldn't hear him, he reached over for the discarded pillow. Sitting up quietly, he raised it above his head and brought it down onto her stomach. She made an "Ooph" noise and her eyes popped open in shock.

"What was that for?" she groused, her hands holding her stomach protectively.

He raised a skeptical brow. "You know exactly what it was for."

Mimicking his movements she raised an eyebrow. "I assure you that I do not," she said in the haughtiest tone she could manage.

Sesshoumaru propped his elbows on the edge of the couch near Kagome's head and rested his chin in them. "You smacked me with a pillow and woke me up from a nice dream."

She tilted her head back to look at him better. "I do not know of what you speak."

"Lying is very unbecoming, Kagome. You shouldn't do it."

"I'm not lying!" she declared. But the smile she couldn't keep off her face ruined the seriousness she was trying to portray.

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "No, I'm not.

He leaned closer. "Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Kagome, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but I think you are a pathological liar."

She opened her mouth to protest but was silenced by virtue of one of his fingers.

"It's become very obvious to me that you can't help but lie. It is a very sad situation. Would you like to break the news to your family or would you prefer I did it for you?"

She moved to push him but the hand that had been resting against her mouth caught both her hands before she could. "Now, now. Be nice. This is a serious problem. They have rehab centers for people like you." He said with the utmost seriousness.

"I am not a pathological liar!" she said trying to free her hands so that she could push him.

"Poor Kagome," he tsked. "You don't realize how serious the situation truly is. But you'll be on the road to recovery as soon as you can admit that there is a problem." He had to smother a smile at her disgruntled expression.

Kagome scoffed and turned her face to the side in mock anger her cheeks tinting a faint pink upon realizing just how close they were. She wondered if he could hear how fast her heart was beating.

"You admit to your deceit then?"

"Never!" she cried swinging her head back around, the pink in her cheeks intensifying when she discovered they were now close enough for their noses to touch. The rest of her response died in her throat as they looked at each other, their game forgotten. Her eyes began to drift closed and if possible, she was sure Sesshoumaru had gotten closer.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Startled, the two jumped and turned towards the door, Kagome looking at it in confusion and Sesshoumaru wishing that he had x-ray vision so that he could melt the person he knew to be on the other side.

"Hey Kagome! Open up! I'm taking care of Shippo's mutt and I can't get him to stop chewing on things! Open up! I know you're in there! Damnitt! Open the door Kagome! You have to help me! He chewed up my System of a Down cd!"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Kagome looked at Sesshoumaru and rolled her eyes while moving to open the door. "Can I help you?" she asked opening the door just as he raised his fist to bang on it some more.

"Yeah, tell me what to do to stop this damn dog from eating everything in sight."

"While I'm still not happy with you," so saying she sent him a fierce glare. "I know what Cujo's like and wouldn't wish that on anyone's stuff." She moved aside and motioned him inside.

Halfway through the door, Inuyasha stopped dead upon seeing his brother. "What's that bastard doing here?"

Rolling her eyes again Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's sleeved and pulled him and the dog in the rest of the way so that she could close the door. "He's decided to be my self proclaimed body guard. Don't ask, I'll explain later." Dropping into a crouch in front of Cujo she took his face in both her hands and rubbed. "How are you?" she cooed. "You're a good boy aren't you?"

Both brothers snorted. That was the world's biggest lie in both of their opinions. That dog was hells spawn. Inuyasha watched in disgust as the dog that would sooner bite him than look at him turned into a playful puppy while receiving attention from Kagome.

"I'll never understand how that dog can go from being psycho to normal all within seconds of seeing you."

"That's because you don't know how to handle him Inuyasha."

"Obviously he isn't good with animals."

Inuyasha scowled. "Are you telling me he didn't attack you too?"

Sesshoumaru ignored him in favor of asking Kagome where her 'secret weapon' for Cujo was.

"Top shelf." She replied scratching Cujo behind the ears while his tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth. "Why do you have Cujo, Inuyasha? Where's Shippo?" she asked over the whiring of the can opener.

"I'm not sure where he is, but I think he had a date."

Kagome's head cocked to one side. "Really? I didn't know he was interested in anyone . . ."

"Don't worry about. He could be just running some errands that need to be dog free. Or maybe just Cujo free."

"I suppose. But I wonder why he wouldn't tell me if he was seeing someone?"

"Like I said, don't worry about it. What the hell is that?" he asked pointing at the dish in Sesshoumaru's hands.

"That is my secret weapon. It calms Cujo and makes him sleep like a baby most times."

Looking into the bowl Inuyasha's expression darkened. "It's ravioli."

"Yep!" Kagome said brightly. "Works every time!"

"This just reconfirms my belief about that dog-if he really is a dog-being psychotic. I mean ravioli? How weird is that?"

"Every creature has its quirks. How is this any different than your obsession with ramen?"

"Because ramen is good and ravioli is disgusting."

"Hey," Kagome put a hand on her hip. "I'll have you know that I like ravioli."

"Yeah," Inuyasha nodded his head sagely. "That explains a lot actually . . ."

He didn't even have time to dodge the pillow she lobbed at his head.

XXXXXXXXXX

"She's being cautious now," a young, monotone voice whispered.

Teeth glinted maliciously in the dark.

"But how long until she falters?"


	25. The Truth Comes Out

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I own . . . . well I don't own anything really. sigh**

**Authors Note:** Thanks for waiting so patiently for this chapter. I made it extra long to make up for it and it is chock full of lots of important plot progressors. (at least I think so . . . but that may be because I know the whole story! Bwhahaha!). Anyway, I will be replying to the rest of the reviews for the last chapter by the end of tomorrow. I would normally have finished that first, but I figured you would rather have this more than a review response. Thanks for being so faithful and thank you for all of the wonderful reviews I recieved last chapter!!! Now on with the story!

It was a very dreary day, cold and wet, with clouds the color of burned ash. The sound of the rain hitting the pavement below created a steady rhythm only broken by the pounding of feet by those unfortunate enough to be caught in the storm.

Kagome sighed and closed the blinds, suppressing a shiver when she caught sight of her reflection in the glass before the blinds blocked the image. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched . . . . and it was creeping her out if the expression she saw on her face was anything to go by.

The feeling had intensified when Sesshoumaru had left to pick up a pizza (because neither felt like cooking) and she had been left all alone in her apartment. It was odd that she felt his absence so acutely when just a few days before she was trying to convince him (and herself) she didn't need him to stay with her. She still didn't think he needed to protect her (like he and Shippo both seemed to think) but it was . . . nice to have him around.

Especially when she was feeling this paranoid. She shook her head to rid it of her troublesome thoughts. She was being overly sensitive, and it was making her a little extra jittery. That was all. And besides he had only gone to get a pizza. He would be back in no time.

She decided to pass the time waiting for him by curling up on the couch with a comfy blanket and a good book to read until he came back. Maybe it would distract her from the feeling of being watched.

XXXXXXXXXX

"She's alone right now." He said into the silver phone he'd had permanently attached to his side since taking on this 'mission'. He brushed a hand through his bangs and admired the feral grin in the reflection he could see using a store window. "Motosuwa left a little while ago."

He snorted after receiving a reply. "I think now would be perfect." He scowled when Naraku disagreed with him again. "Keh, if you say so." He snapped the phone shut and looked up at the girl he could see standing by her window. "Maybe next time girlie."

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru slid his finger along the glass window of the pizza parlor tracing the path of the water droplets rolling down the opposite side of the glass. He wished that they would hurry with the pizza. It was extremely boring waiting by himself, and he was becoming increasingly irritated by the cashier constant attempts to flirt with him. Plus, the googly, come hither eyes she was trying send him made him find her rather repulsive.

Her eyes were a dark blue and her black hair was pulled back in what he supposed was a nice hairstyle. She was attractive, her clothes complimenting her figure nicely, but he just wasn't interested. Oddly, it wasn't even because she was human (even though that was a factor). If he was honest with himself, it was because he couldn't help but compare her to Kagome. Kagome could be as annoyingly cheerful as this girl and yet it didn't bother him when it was her. But then again, Kagome seemed to be the exception to his rules in most cases.

When the girl behind the counter giggled and attempted futilely to once more to engage him in pointless conversation he leveled her with a bored and very obviously disinterested stare. She faltered a moment but then forged ahead.

"So do you go to school anywhere?"

". . . . ."

"I go to school at Tokyo U. Have you ever been to the campus? It's beautiful."

". . . . ."

"I'm majoring in kendo and education."

". . . . ."

"So, er, what do you do for fun?"

". . . . ."

Just as she was about to ask another question a tall, skinny guy with spiky hair wearing the same uniform walked over and slid a pizza box onto the counter. "Large pepperoni pizza. Is it yours sir?"

Sesshoumaru nodded. "How much is it?" he asked, speaking for the first time since placing his order.

"$10.50."

Sesshoumaru paid for the pizza and headed for the door with the cashier calling out behind him. "Have a good day!"

Sano ran a hand through his spiky hair and cast a side long glance at his co-worker. "That guy was obviously not interested. What were you trying to make Kenshin jealous again jou-chan?"

Kaoru adjusted the blue ribbon in her hair and giggled. "Of course."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Inuyasha tapped his fingers impatiently against his thighs as he perused the aisles of the supermarket for his favorite flavor of ramen (not that he was particularly picky when it came to ramen, to him all ramen was good ramen). He'd eaten the last of it that morning for breakfast and as that meant he had no more for lunch; he'd decided to go to the store to buy more.

Finally finding the desired flavor (creamy chicken) he turned to go to the check out and promptly ran into someone knocking them both to the floor. Looking up from the armful of ramen that had scattered all about he did a double take. "Kagome?" he asked.

The girl sprawled out in front of him looked confused for a moment before she shook her head. When she did her bangs followed the motion and he noticed how neat and straight they were, unlike Kagome's unruly bangs, and that her eyes were brown instead of blue

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "You look a lot like a friend of mine."

The girl smiled and Inuyasha felt his heart beat just a little bit faster. "Do you know your friend's last name?"

"Yes," Inuyasha said slowly, not really understanding what point she was trying to make.

"Is it Higurashi?"

Inuyasha's eyes widened comically in surprise, "How did you know that?"

The girl giggled and put a dainty hand over her mouth. "Because I only know of one person that people confuse me for and vice versa, and that's my cousin Kagome Higurashi."

"Kagome's your cousin?!"

She tilted her head to the side. "You don't see the family resemblance?"

"I see too much resemblance for cousins. If I didn't know she didn't have any sisters I'd think you were twins." He scratched his head in mild embarrassment.

"What's your name by the way? I'm Inuyasha Motosuwa," he held out a hand for her to shake.

"Kikyou Higurashi." She reached out to shake the proffered hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Alright," Kagome said gravely. "This is the last chance."

"Be prepared to lose, Kagome."

"Don't be so cocky Sesshoumaru. We are tied after all," she said wagging a finger at him.

"Be that as it may, this Sesshoumaru doesn't lose. Especially considering what is at stake."

"Talk is cheap pretty boy." Kagome cracked her knuckles. "Let's do this and then if you win you can gloat all you want." She cleared her throat nervously. "On the count of three. One . . . . two . . . . three!

"Rock!"

"Paper!"

Both players stared unbelievingly down at their hands. Kagome slowly looked up at Sesshoumaru with an awed expression on her face. Clearing her throat and composing herself she said with the utmost seriousness, "I just want you to know that despite the outcome of this, I won't rub it in your face that I BEAT YOU!!!! Ha!" she wiggled around in a sitting version of her victory dance.

Sesshoumaru sniffed haughtily. "You were merely lucky."

"Aw, don't be such a sore loser. Just admit that it was my greatly superior psychic abilities that allowed me to pick paper. I knew that you would choose rock."

Sesshoumaru snorted. "I will make no such concession, as it was only luck which insured your victory."

Kagome scooted across the floor to sit cross legged in front of him. She patted the hand that was resting on his knee. "Poor Sesshoumaru," she lamented. "He can't handle losing." Her eyes sparkled with her mirth. "But moving on from your short comings," she winked at him. "The fact that I won (and that you lost was implied) means I get to pick which movie we are going to watch. And I pick . . ." she paused to prolong his agony. "I pick _Pretty Woman_!"

Sesshoumaru groaned and put his head in both hands on his knees. "It is your wish to torture me, isn't it?"

Kagome patted the top of his silver head consolingly. "You'll live I'm sure." A muffled groan was all the response she received. "It's not that bad Sesshoumaru. Have you ever even watched _Pretty Woman_ before?"

He didn't say anything or bother to lift his head from his hands. "Sesshoumaru?" He remained silent. She poked his shoulder. "Sesshoumaru?" He didn't respond. She poked him again. "Sesshoumaru!"

"Do not poke this Sesshoumaru again."

Kagome tossed her hair and extended her right pointer finger to do just that but was surprised when his hand shot out and captured hers preventing her from poking him a third time. She tried to tug her hand out of his grasp. "How do you do that?" she gave another tug with her hand. "You weren't even looking."

Sesshoumaru turned his head on his knees so that he was looking at her. "I can hear when you move."

Kagome stopped struggling for a moment. "Now that is just plain creepy." She ignored his affronted expression at being called creepy and scooted closer to get more leverage in prying her hand from his. "Let go Sesshoumaru."

He lifted his head from its resting place on his knees. "I think not."

"Why not?"

"He considered her silently for a moment. "Because if you can not move then you can not start that vile and repulsive movie."

"But I won fair and square," she pouted.

"Be that as it may, I have no desire to sit and watch that chick flick for two hours."

"It isn't two hours, Sesshoumaru. It's one hour and forty nine minutes." She laughed at his dry expression.

"You can be very annoying."

"Thank you."

"It was not a compliment."

"I know, but I choose to take it as one."

By this point they had gotten very close to one another. Kagome looked up at him and giggled before falling quiet with radiant smile on her face. She noted that he was still holding her hand, but not as tightly and she could easily remove it. She didn't.

Sesshoumaru noticed how close she now was and how she smelled of her shampoo. That they seemed to be getting closer and closer.

Kagome's eyes slid closed and Sesshoumaru leaned in closer. When he was just a hairs breadth away, he paused, waiting for the disruption that would surely come.

Nothing happened and he closed the distance between the two of them for their first kiss. Her arms came up to wrap around his neck, threading her fingers through his long hair while his hands settled at her waist.

When they pulled apart (as they both required oxygen) Kagome sighed dreamily and then immediately blushed scarlet. Sesshoumaru took pride in himself upon hearing her softly spoken "wow."

"Wow for me too," he said resting his forehead against hers.

Her blush darkened to crimson, obviously having forgotten that he would be able to hear her softly spoken admission. She giggled nervously. "So . . . are you ready for the movie now?" she asked obviously eager to get on to what she deemed a safer and less embarrassing topic.

Sesshoumaru snorted and rubbed noses with her. "You will not rest until you have tortured me with viewing it will you?"

"Nope," she said winking at him. "So you might as well get it over with." She reluctantly scooted out of his embrace and went to put the movie in.

"There is one plus side to this," he said casually going over to the couch and sitting down before swinging his legs over so that there was no room left for anyone else.

"And that is?" she asked cocking an obsidian eyebrow.

"I've already claimed the couch."

She threw a pillow at him and pouted until he let her sit down beside him to enjoy the movie. Which she did with her head on his shoulder and his arm wrapped firmly about her shoulders.

XXXXXXXXXX

Shippo swallowed nervously. He had asked Kagome if she minded eating lunch with him at the café while she was on break that afternoon. This normally would have left him a very happy kitsune, if it weren't for the fact that the reason he had asked to have lunch with her was because he was going to reveal his plan to her.

Kagome was a very forgiving person by nature, but she could be very scary when angry and he didn't know how she would react when he found out how much meddling he'd been doing (or attempting to do) in her life.

When he arrived she was talking to a table, but looked up and gave a faint wave when she heard the tinkling of the bell above the door. She smiled at him and went back to talking to her guests. He went to a corner booth and sat down to wait for her.

She printed out the table's ticket, delivered it and wished them a good day, then came over to sit across from him in the booth. "So how was your day, Shippo?"

"O.K. I guess."

"Would you like me to take your order sir?" she asked with an aristocratic air.

"Certainly," he replied cracking an amused smile at her antics. "I'll take a grilled chicken sandwich with no tomato. With fries. And a coke. Can't forget the coke."

"Of course not." She giggled. "That would be blasphemous."

Shippo nodded his head with the utmost seriousness. "Blasphemous," he agreed.

Kagome snorted. "I'll go ring our orders in."

Shippo watched as she practically floated over to the computer. He noted that she seemed especially happy today which made him feel worse. She was happy for crying out loud! And e was about to ruin her good mood by royally ticking her off. Maybe he should wait to tell her . . .

"I've rang in the food, sol now all we have to do is wait." She plopped down gracelessly in the seat across from him. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Er, first tell me what has you in such a good mood. You're all floaty and dreamy today." He quirked an eyebrow when she blushed. This had to be good. Maybe he wouldn't die a unique and painful way courtesy of Kagome after all.

"Uh, no reason really."

Shippo propped his elbows on the table and leaned over it to whisper conspiratorially. "Sure. That's why your face is as red as a tomato."

She sighed and her blush, if possible, became an even darker shade of red. "Let me put it this way," she glanced around to make sure none of her nosey co-workers were listening in, "I don't kiss and tell."

She took great pleasure in Shippo's shell shocked expression. "That makes me so happy right now."

"Why?"

"Because that means that you aren't going to kill me for what I'm about to tell you and that I get to live to see another day."

Kagome narrowed her eyes at the guilty looking kitsune. "I think you have some explaining to do."

"Well, when I came back from America and found out you were still single, I had this crazy idea to set you up with someone."

"Go on."

"So I've been plotting against you-er I mean for you, so that you could find relationship bliss."

"Stop stalling."

Shippo laughed nervously. "Basically, I've been making Sesshoumaru jealous so that he would realize that he liked you, and I tried to make you jealous so that you would realize you liked him."

"But how did you do . . . oh. So the Inuyasha thing was you?"

Shippo scratched his head out of a nervous habit. "Yeah, although that had a double purpose. If you liked Inuyasha, then yay, you would realize you liked him and he already liked you, so it would end well. If you didn't, then maybe it would help you to realize who you liked."

"How were you making me jealous?"

"I asked Kagura to make a few comments and such to get your mind going about him with someone else."

"I'm so glad that we are all pawns for your little kitsune amusement."

"But it worked out in the end didn't it?"

"But you didn't know that until just now."

"That isn't the point. The point is that it all worked out. And that today, because of me," he quickly amended his statement due to a rather vicious look of imminent death, "that today you are all floaty and happy because of events that have transpired."

"Hm."

Please don't be mad at me and Kagura."

"Why would I be mad at Kagura?"

"Oops."

"You mean she was plotting with you?"

"Not at first . . ."

"But in the end?"

"Well yes."

She sighed. "So everyone knew but me and Sesshoumaru?"

"Not everyone . . ."

"So do you have anymore wonderful news you wish to impart?"

"Actually, I do have one more thing."  
"You aren't planning my wedding behind my back are you?" she asked drily.

"No, but Kagura and I are officially a couple."

Shippo almost laughed when her mouth dropped open. At least she wasn't mad at him anymore. He hoped.


	26. I'm Watching You

**Disclaimer: I very obviously do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters if I did . . . well let's not get into that . . .**

**Authors Note: Before you get out the ropes and form a lynch mob, I have a few things to say. First, I am very sorry for the lack of updates this past year. I hope to not go that long again without updating. Second, since I last updated, I have had a multiude of different illnesses, one of which was a tumor (it has been removed) and the newest one that the doctors are still on watch for is multiple sclerosis. On top of that, I am a full time student in college and I work two jobs. Between all of these things, I haven't had much opportunity to write, or a strong inclination to do so. I'm feeling much better now, so I hope to have a new chapter out at least once a month again. Thank you everyone for sticking with this story and for all of the wonderful reviews. They helped me to sit down and finish this chapter which I began over a year ago. Merry Christmas and Happy New year!**

**LoudlySilent**

Kagome felt her mouth drop open in surprise and her mind went blank for a few seconds. When it started up again, there was only one thought resounding through her shock addled brain: _Shippo and Kagura are a couple?_ Finally managing to close her mouth she opened it again to sputter "But I thought she liked Sesshoumaru? She acts like she likes him."

"Well I won't deny that she rather likes his . . . physique, but most of that was an act to make you start thinking about him," here he stopped to look at her with a coy turn of his head, "and maybe make you jealous."

Kagome snorted at his disgruntled expression when he mentioned Kagura's interest in Sesshoumaru's body and ignored him when he mentioned her supposed jealousy._ I think she was trying to make more than me jealous, and I think she succeeded._ In true Kagome fashion, she voiced her thoughts. "I think she made you jealous Shippo."

Shippo glowered at her. "I'm not jealous of Sesshoumaru."

Kagome raised her eyebrows. "Sure you aren't," her tone left no doubt as to what she really thought.

"I'm not."

"Sure," she snorted.

"Really!"

"I believe you."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "You can be so annoying."

Kagome winked at him. "I learned from the best." She took a sip of her drink. "Besides you deserve it for plotting my future relationship." By the end she was glowering at him.

Shippo sighed gustily. She was never going to let him forget either.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru watched the two of them at a distance. Shippo was squirming around like he was uncomfortable about something and Kagome had a decidedly vindictive look about her. He ignored the little spark of happiness that lit within his chest at the thought of the kitsune's discomfort. He didn't have a real problem with Shippo any longer, but he was still a fox, and dog's disliked the tricky nature of foxes because they were so contrary to the dog's more straightforward manner.

But, even if he didn't have a problem with Shippo anymore, Kagome still needed someone to watch her. Someone other than a kitsune that wouldn't be able to protect her as well as, well, him. He didn't trust anyone else to protect her as well as he could, it was as simple as that.

XXXXXXXXXX

While Sesshoumaru was keeping an eye out for anyone suspicious, he was being

watched by one of the very people he wanted to protect Kagome from.

"She's with the kitsune and the dog is watching from a distance. When do you want me to do this?" frustration was obvious in the unknown caller's voice. "I'm getting tired of this game."

"I pay you to do what I tell you, not question me; if this has become a problem, a solution can easily be found. Unfortunately for you, the solution involves your death. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," came the growled reply before the cell phone was snapped shut.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Shippo! Open the damn door!" BANG! BANG! BANG! "I'm not kidding Shippo! Don't make me break it down!" Inuyasha rubbed his temples to help soothe the headache he felt coming on. He hit the door again. "Shippo! I can't watch your dog anymore! He's a menace!" He looked down at the dog in question, shuddering when Cujo burped. "He ate a freaking spatula! A spatula! Come out here and get your damn dog!"

No one came to the door and Inuyasha slid down to his knees. "Please I'm begging you to take your dog back." Cujo sat down and snapped at one of Inuyasha's hands. Inuyasha made sure he wasn't in biting range and went back to begging at the door for Shippo. "Please come get your devil dog!"

"Inuyasha?" came a voice from behind him. "What are you doing here?"

The defeated hanyou whipped around, "Shippo. Thank. God."

"What?" Shippo tried and failed to keep the utter confusion out of his voice.

"What's wrong Inuyasha?"

"Your devil dog is what's wrong!" Inuyasha climbed to his feet and wiped his hands on his jeans. "He's like a black hole that eats everything. He ate a spatula, Shippo!"

Shippo rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Eh, well you didn't know that dogs like to, er, chew plastic?"

"It was made out of steel!"

"What!" Shippo kneeled down beside Cujo and started looking him over. "Are you okay Cujo boy?" he asked in a baby voice. "Why didn't you take him to the vet?!" the anger rang clear in the question.

"Because he's the devil," Inuyasha said crossing his arms. Shippo scowled. "What? I figured he ate shit like that all the time!"

"I don't leave things he shouldn't eat out where he can get them! Only an idiot would do that when they know the dog is inclined to eating anything he can fit in his mouth."

"Okay, first it was in the drawer, which he also chewed on and broke-so you owe me some extra money, and second, do you not have furniture?, because last time I checked, furniture touches the ground. And if it touches the ground, Cujo chews on it."

"He doesn't chew my furniture."

"Good. That means you won't have a problem taking him back."

"No, I need you to keep him for one more day."

"Not a chance."

"Please!" Shippo put his hands together and did his best impression of puppy dog eyes.

"No."

"What is this going to cost me?"

"You'll need to replace everything that Cujo ate or destroyed."

"Okay, I can do that, as long as you don't expect everything right away."

"And I'll need an extra $100.00."

"WHAT! I can understand the other stuff, but an extra hundred dollars! For one day? You're out of your mind!"

"Hmm, I suppose I could settle for $50.00." he stroked his chin considering.

"You'll come get him tomorrow? As in tomorrow by 3:00?"

"Thank you, Inuyasha."

"Keh, don't ever expect me to do it again."

"Don't worry I won't."

"Inuyasha tightened his grip on the leash and tapped his foot impatiently while

Shippo baby talked the dog and said goodbye. "Alright come one devil dog. Bye Shippo."

"Bye Inuyasha, thanks again."

"No problem. Just make sure to bring the extra $50.00 with you tomorrow when you come to pick up the hell spawn here."

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome edged around the corner in the hallway, trying to get a clear view of the kitchen. She wanted to sneak up on Sesshoumaru and scare him. So far she had been unsuccessful. _Damn inuyoukai hearing. Can't sneak up and scare them no matter how hard you try._ He seemed unaware of her approach, sitting at the table and staring into space, the expression on his face the look she had dubbed 'I am busy thinkng of big important things. Do not bother me.'

Fortunately for her, this look also usually meant that he was being as inattentive to his surroundings as she was likely to ever find him. She decided to seize the opportunity that had presented itself. Who knew when it could happen again?

She tip toed closer until she was standing directly behind him. She raised her arms so that they were level with his sides and slowly inched closer so that she could tickle him unawares. When her fingers were mere centimeters away from their goal, she found herself looking at an empty chair with both her hands being held behind her back in one of Sesshoumaru's while the other tickled her sides mercilessly.

"S-Sesshoumaru! S-St- stop it!"

"Why?" Sesshoumaru asked as he continued to tickle her. "This is what you had in mind for me isn't it?"

"Y-Yes but," Kagome gasped in another lung full of air. "I wouldn't have been able to keep tickling you." She folded over the arm that had snaked around her middle and hung limply, gasping for breath when he stopped the laughter inducing assault. "You're much to fast and strong. You would have gotten away easily."

"True enough." He tilted his head down and watched her arms swing like clock pendulums. "Kagome, what are you doing?"

Throwing her head back so that she could see him she replied, "Well, since I didn't get to tickle you, and I got tickled, I figured I would let you expend the energy to support me. I used up all of mine laughing so hard."

Sesshoumaru cocked an eyebrow. "Who's to say I want to expend the energy holding you up? I could drop you."

Kagome smiled warmly at him, "But you won't."


	27. Discoveries

**Author's Note: Wow, it has been a long time! I'm so sorry for the wait! I had multiple computer troubles among various other life problems and haven't had the ability then the inclination to write. All I can do is apologize and promise you will never have to wait this long again. If you notice a mistake please let me know. I tried to check and make sure I didn't contradict anything I have already written, but mistakes happen. Anyway, I hope you like the new chapter and feel free to leave me some reviews! Those always help get my butt in gear to write more!**

Shippo glanced at the time when his cell began to blare Inuyasha's ring tone (he figured the guy deserved one of his own after spending an entire day with Cujo). It was a quarter to three, so he still had fifteen minutes to get to Inuyasha's place. "Hey Inuyasha, what's up?"

"Your ass had better be on the way over here is what's up!"

Shippo rolled his eyes, Inuyasha could be so melodramatic. "Relax! I'm already headed that way. And besides I still have fifteen minutes so what's got your knickers in a twist?"

"One, my knickers aren't in a twist because I'm not a girl. Two the hell spawned creature that you call a dog is my problem! I think hell rejected him because the Devil himself was scared of him. He probably ate the Devil's pitchfork!"

"What did he do?"

"He ate my vacuum cleaner Shippo. A vacuum cleaner! Cujo can't be a normal dog! He _ate_ a vacuum cleaner!"

"Can we continue this conversation when I'm inside?"

"We can have this conversation now, you little-"

"But I'm standing outside waiting for you to let me in," to prove this Shippo knocked on the door.

Inuyasha flung open the door and grabbed Shippo by the collar of his shirt, dragging him across the threshold and shoving him none too gently in the direction of the couch. "You owe me so much more than $50 now."

"So . . . I owe you a $100?" When all Inuyasha did was glare at him Shippo looked around the room and noticed the couch was missing a chunk on the arm and that there was a hole in the wall beside a downed picture frame with teeth mark all over it. "$200?"  
"Try $500. That _thing _ate my vacuum cleaner Shippo! And what's with the confused expression? It's your animal you should know how destructive it is!"

Shippo blinked slowly as if trying to process an information overload. "You own a vacuum cleaner?"

It was probably only his kitsune reflexes that allowed him to dodge the punch.

XXXXXXXXXX

Miroku sighed in utter contentment as he slid his fingers through Sango's silky hair. They hadn't known each other very long but he already knew she was something special. She'd have to be to put up with his wandering hand after all. "Have you heard anything from Kagome about her relationship with Sesshoumaru?"

"Hmmm I know that they've finally kissed," without missing a beat Sango grabbed the hand that had wandered from her hair towards her rear. "And that Kagome really likes him."

"That's good. I know Sesshoumaru likes her too." Miroku shifted so he was sitting even closer to Sango on the couch. "I also know that I really like you."

Sango blushed. "And what does that have to do with Kagome and Sesshoumaru?"

Miroku gave his most patented smile. "Nothing, I just thought you should know." Then he leaned in to give her a chaste kiss.

Sango rested her head on his shoulder and sighed in contentment as he started combing his fingers through her hair again. Miroku may be a pervert, but he was something special.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome was on her way back to her place with the takeout food from one of her favorite restaurants (having convinced Sesshoumaru that she could go alone and that she wanted to surprise him with the food choice) when a somewhat familiar voice called her name from behind her. She turned sharply on her heel to look behind her causing the takeout bag to swing back and forth in front of her. "Yes?"

"Hey, Kagome. I thought that was you."

"Hey, um, Koga, right?"

Koga gave her wolfish grin. "That's right. What's a pretty lady such as yourself doing out at this time of night by herself?"

Kagome bristled at the implication that she couldn't take care of herself and scowled at the demon in front of her. "First, it's not even dark. Secondly, I can take care of myself. Thirdly, I hardly know you so it really isn't any of your business."

Koga held up his hands in the universal sign of a man in supplication to the woman he just ticked off. "Hold up, no need to get defensive." He flashed his most charming smile. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Where are you headed? He nodded towards the bag of takeout in her hands.

Kagome relaxed and sheepishly replied, "Sorry, ingrained habit from being surrounded by overprotective males for far too long. I'm on the way back to my place to eat this."

"Would you mind if I walked you? Just to make sure you get there safely of course."

"Sure. "

XXXXXXXXXX

Sesshoumaru looked at the clock and then back at the door that he had been watching for the last thirty minutes. She had been gone far too long. Maybe he should go looking for her? No, then she would get all indignant with female wounded pride like he was saying she couldn't take care of herself. She could . . . just he could do it better.

Just when he was seconds away from going after her, he heard her coming down the hall talking to a male. He inhaled deeply as they came closer to the door. It was that wolf demon he'd smelled on her awhile back. He reached to open the door just as Kagome came through walking backwards waving goodbye to the wolf demon. "Thanks for walking me home Koga!"

Turning after shutting the door behind her Kagome stopped short at Sesshoumaru's close proximity. "Hi Sesshoumaru!" she chirped when he said nothing.

"Who was that?"

"That was Koga."

Sesshoumaru barely refrained from rolling his eyes. She said that like it actually explained anything. He arched an eyebrow instead. "And who is Koga?"

"Just a guy I ran into the other day." She set the takeout bag on the counter and began rummaging for proper eating utensils. "He saw me on my way back here from Sagara's restaurant and asked me if he could walk me home to keep me safe since it was almost dark out."

"Kagome, you have a psycho ex-boyfriend after you. Don't you think you shouldn't let strangers follow you home?"

Kagome crossed her arms peevishly. "Koga isn't my ex. There's no harm in letting him walk me home."

Sesshoumaru pinched the bridge of his nose. "Again I say you have a psycho ex-boyfriend after you. He also knows that you know he is after you, so don't you think it's reasonable to assume he would employ someone that you didn't know to get to you?"

"I suppose it's a reasonable assumption." She put the food on the table and turned to face Sesshoumaru wrapping her arms around his midsection and going up on her tiptoes to bring their faces closer together. "I'm sorry if I worried you. I'll be more careful." She gave him a quick kiss, unable to stop the faint blush that spread across her cheeks. "Now let's eat!"

XXXXXXXXXX

He answered on the first ring. "Yes?"  
"It's time for you to get the girl."

"Finally, I'm tired of waiting." He brushed his bangs out of his eyes. "Too bad you couldn't have called earlier though."

"You do not dictate your orders."

"I know, I was just with her is all. It would have been easy."

"You are gaining her trust then?"

"Yes, just as you asked."

"You've pleased me. Well done Koga."


	28. Stir Crazy

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha (much to my dismay). All I own are some movies, posters, dolls and a key chain.**

**Authors Note:** Here's the next installment! Unfortunately this story will be coming to an end soon. I'm not sure exactly how many more chapters there will be but it will most likely be 4 or less. And as always let me know what you think!

Kouga was having a slight problem. His boss had given him a job to do and he as of yet had been unable to do said job. For most people, if they couldn't perform their job responsibilities to the satisfaction of their boss it might mean a warning, a cut in pay, or at worst being fired. Unfortunately for Kouga, he didn't have a normal job or a normal boss. He had a psycho for a boss and failure was not an option as failure would most likely result in his death.

He was supposed to bring the Higurashi girl to Naraku but she had not been alone since he had walked her home two days ago. If the dog wasn't around, then the fox or half demon were. He knew he could not win against the dog, the fox was a complete unknown as the breed was notorious for being difficult to judge their strength, and while was reasonably sure he could take the half breed, there was the potential he would put up enough of a fight that he wouldn't be able to get the girl before one of the others showed up.

He didn't know exactly what Naraku had planned for the girl, but he figured it wouldn't be pretty. He seemed pretty pissed off that she had left him, so he did not envy whatever it was. There was a pang of regret felt in his gut when he thought of the girl. She was pretty and would have made a good woman for him. Oh well.

He idly scratched his name into the roof with his claws, the cement and tar on the roof across from Kagome's place no match for his sharp claws. Watching the girl was becoming extremely boring. She went to work, school and came home with her demonic tag alongs trailing her the whole while. It was a bit frustrating. Would they never leave her alone!

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome wanted to pull her hair out she was frustrated. She never had a minute alone! _If Sesshoumaru had his way,_ she thought grumpily _I wouldn't be allowed use the bathroom without one of them in there with me!_ She was tiring of the constant company. Not that Inuyasha wasn't fun to be around and of course she loved Shippo. And her feelings for Sesshoumaru were growing every day (when he wasn't smothering her).

She knew that they were doing it because they cared about her and didn't want to see her hurt. She appreciated it even. But they were driving her crazy. She needed to get out. Shippo was going to come in the morning and they were going to go to school together while Sesshoumaru ran an errand. Shippo her fun loving kitsune friend. There might be hope for a bit of freedom after all. . .

XXXXXXXXXX

As soon as he walked in Shippo knew that Kagome was up to something. She just had that look about her like she was going to do something she knew her mother would disapprove of. He could tell by her grin and the suspicious look Sesshoumaru had plastered on his face. Normally Shippo participated in this type of behavior, encouraged it even, but in circumstances like the one they were currently experiencing, he found he didn't like it. It made his stomach curl unpleasantly knowing she was going to include him in her plans.

Then again, just because she was up to something it didn't mean it was necessarily a bad or dangerous something. It could just be a spot of mischief to brighten their day and irritate the dogs. He was more than okay with that. He felt the worry lines in his forehead give way to an easy grin. He was definitely up for a bit of harmless, headache inducing pranks. Shippo graced Sesshoumaru with a cheeky wave as he was leaving and then turned an expectant grin on Kagome. "So what are you up to Kagome?"

Kagome crossed her arms. "Why would you ask that? What makes you think I'm up to something?"

"Because I know you and I know that look on your face."

"What look?"

"The one you have right now."

"I don't have a look on my face."

"Yes you do."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do." Shippo gulped and laughed nervously when another look he was familiar with came over her face: the one that said she was going to cause him a lot of pain if he wasn't careful.

"Shippo." Her tone was completely neutral, which told him he was in dangerous territory.

"Yes Kagome?"

"I don't have a look on my face."

Shippo nodded in agreement. "You're right I don't know what I was talking about."

"Good," Kagome nodded her approval of his acknowledgement. She clapped her hands together. "Now about what we will be doing today."

"I thought we were going to class today."

"We are going to class today," she paused and finished gathering her stuff. "But you are also going to let me leave class by myself so that I can have a few minutes alone."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Shippo, yes you are."

Shippo rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Kagome," he mimicked her tone, "No I'm not."

"I'm going crazy."

"Too bad. Sesshoumaru would kill me if I let you go off alone. Heck, I'd help him dismember me if something happened to you."

Kagome sighed gustily. "Alright. Fine."

"That's it?" Shippo was instantly suspicious of her too easy capitulation. "No argument?"

"None," she threw over her shoulder as she crossed the threshold and held the door for the kitsune to follow her out.

"I find myself extremely worried."

Kagome gave him a sunny smile. "Don't be I'm agreeing with you that it's too dangerous. Sesshoumaru would be extremely unhappy with you if you helped me get some alone time."

Shippo gave her a quick hug and shouldered her bag. "I'm glad you see reason." He ignored the twinge of unease he still felt at how easy the conversation had gone.

"Thanks," she said drily. The walk to campus was quiet, each lost in their own thoughts. Shippo trying to convince himself that he had won the argument, and Kagome changing her plans. She needed to adapt now that she didn't have the help of her sly friend and it was no easy feat to give a kitsune the slip.


End file.
